WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. It allows users to send messages, photos, videos, documents, voice messages and make calls over the internet.
One of the features of WhatsApp is the ability to clear chat data and media from the app. This can help free up storage space on your phone when WhatsApp media and messages start taking up too much space. But does clearing WhatsApp data also delete your WhatsApp media like photos, videos and voice messages? Let’s find out.
Does Clearing WhatsApp Data Delete Media Files?
The short answer is – it depends on how you clear the WhatsApp data. There are two main ways to clear WhatsApp data:
Clearing Chat History
If you clear your WhatsApp chat history from within the Chats tab in WhatsApp, this will only delete your conversations and messages. Your WhatsApp media files will not be deleted.
To clear chat history:
– Open WhatsApp and go to Chats tab
– Tap on the 3 dot menu in the top right
– Select Clear chat history
– Select which chats you want to clear or Clear all chats
– Confirm clearing chat history
This will erase all your conversations but will not affect your WhatsApp media folders or files. Your photos, videos, voice messages, will remain saved in your WhatsApp media folders and gallery.
Clearing App Data
If you clear WhatsApp’s app data from your phone’s Settings or Application Manager, this will delete your conversations, messages, media folders and files.
To clear WhatsApp app data:
– Go to Settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Storage
– Tap on Clear Data
– Confirm clearing app data
This will wipe all WhatsApp data including your media folders and files. Your photos, videos, voice messages etc will be deleted.
So in summary:
– Clearing only chat history will not delete your WhatsApp media
– Clearing app data will delete your WhatsApp media files
Does Clearing Media Delete Media from Phone Storage?
Another question is – when you clear WhatsApp media from within WhatsApp, does it delete the media files from your phone’s storage?
Again, the answer is no. Clearing media from WhatsApp only deletes it from WhatsApp, but not from your phone’s storage.
Here is how you can clear media from WhatsApp:
– Open WhatsApp > Settings > Data and Storage Usage
– Select Media auto download
– Tap on Clear All Media
This will only remove the media from WhatsApp. Your photos, videos, voice messages will still be saved in your phone’s storage and gallery.
To delete media files from phone storage, you will need to delete them directly from your phone’s gallery or file manager. Clearing WhatsApp media does not affect the actual media files saved on your device storage.
Does Uninstalling WhatsApp Delete Media?
Uninstalling the WhatsApp app from your phone also does not delete your WhatsApp media files automatically. When you uninstall WhatsApp, your media files are left untouched in your phone’s storage.
However, if you want to delete your WhatsApp media when uninstalling the app, here are the steps:
– First clear WhatsApp app data as explained above. This will delete media folders.
– Next, uninstall WhatsApp from your phone
– Now install a file manager app if you don’t have one
– Browse to the WhatsApp media folder location: Internal Storage > WhatsApp > Media
– Delete the WhatsApp media folder
This will remove all your WhatsApp media files when you uninstall the app.
So in summary:
– Uninstalling WhatsApp normally does not affect media files
– You need to clear app data and then manually delete media folder to remove all WhatsApp media
How to Backup WhatsApp Media Before Clearing Data
Before clearing WhatsApp data or uninstalling the app, it is recommended to take a backup of your important media files and conversations.
Here are two ways to backup your WhatsApp data:
Google Drive Backup
WhatsApp has a built-in feature to backup your chats and media to Google Drive.
To enable it:
– Open WhatsApp > More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup
– Tap Backup to Google Drive and select backup frequency
– Tap Account and select a Google account
This will automatically backup your WhatsApp media and chats to your linked Google Drive account periodically.
Local Backup
You can also backup WhatsApp to your phone’s local storage:
– Go to WhatsApp > More options > Settings > Chats > Chat backup
– Tap Backup to local storage
This will save a local backup of your chats and media on your phone which you can restore later.
How to Restore WhatsApp Media and Chats
If you have cleared WhatsApp data or uninstalled the app after taking a backup, you can restore your chats and media from the backup.
To restore Google Drive backup:
– Reinstall WhatsApp
– Verify your number
– On the Restore chat history screen, tap Restore
– Select the backup to restore from Google Drive
To restore local backup:
– Reinstall WhatsApp and verify number
– On Restore chat screen, tap Restore from local backup
– Grant storage permissions to access backup
– Select backup file to restore
This will restore your chats, media, settings from the backup.
Alternative Ways to Free up Space
If your only goal is to free up storage space, there are couple of alternative approaches apart from clearing WhatsApp data:
Delete Large Files
– Open WhatsApp > More Options > Settings > Data and Storage Usage
– Review media and files taking up most space
– Delete large and unnecessary files
Enable Media Auto-Download
– Go to Settings > Data and Storage Usage
– Turn off Auto-download for when roaming
– Set media auto-download to only when on WiFi
This will stop automatic downloading of media over mobile data helping save storage space.
Move WhatsApp to SD Card
If your phone supports SD card storage, you can set WhatsApp to store media on the external SD card:
– Go to phone settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Storage
– Select Change storage location
– Select your SD card
This will move WhatsApp media folders to your SD card freeing up internal storage.
Conclusion
To summarize, clearing only WhatsApp chat history will not affect your media files. But clearing app data or uninstalling after deleting media folder will remove all WhatsApp media.
It is recommended to backup important chats and media before clearing WhatsApp data. You can backup to Google Drive or local storage.
Alternative options like deleting large files, disabling auto-download and moving to SD card can also help free up space used by WhatsApp.