Every day, more than sixty million messages are sent through the WhatsApp instant messaging platform, both from iOS and Android devices or from web and desktop applications. There are many reasons for its popularity but without a doubt, one of the most important is that it allows you to send and receive enriched text messages, images and videos. However, this feature may end up reducing your mobile data plan, or occupy a precious space in the storage of your iPhone. Fortunately, you can cancel the automatic download of photos and videos to your iPhone’s reel, in this way you can control both the cost of data and the remaining storage space on your device.
Cancel the automatic download of multimedia files
By default, when you receive images and videos from your WhatsApp contacts, they are automatically stored on your iPhone’s photo reel. Thus, your device may end up full of stupid memes and other images and/or videos that, perhaps, you would not want to have stored. Here’s how to easily avoid this default behavior.
- First, start the WhatsApp application on your iPhone.
- Click on the Settings icon (the small cogwheel) that you will see in the lower right corner of the screen.
- And now select the Chat section.
- In the Save to spool option, press the slider to activate or, in this case, deactivate automatic saving.
Once you have deactivated the automatic download of images and videos in WhatsApp, you can decide in each specific case whether you want to download the multimedia file sent to you. Also, if you have an iPhone with 3D Touch function, simply press firmly on the photo or video in question to access the Save option.
Alternatively, you can also access the Save option by pressing the photo or video and selecting the Share icon that you will see in the lower left corner of the screen.
