The WhatsApp status feature allows users to share photos, videos and GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. In Android 11, WhatsApp has made a change related to how status media is stored on your device. Now, WhatsApp status media including photos, videos and GIFs that you capture or save are stored in a separate WhatsApp status folder in your phone’s internal storage.
Locating the WhatsApp Status Folder
To locate the WhatsApp status folder on your Android 11 device, follow these steps:
- Open the Files app on your Android phone.
- Navigate to Internal Storage > WhatsApp > Media. You will see a folder called Statuses here.
- Open the Statuses folder. This is where all your current and saved WhatsApp statuses are stored.
So in Android 11, instead of WhatsApp status media being scattered across different folders, they are now neatly organized in one dedicated WhatsApp Statuses folder for easy access and management.
Advantages of Separate Status Folder
Having a separate folder for WhatsApp statuses in Android 11 offers some benefits:
- Easier to find and manage all your statuses in one place.
- Helps free up space by making it simpler to delete old statuses.
- Cleaner media organization without statuses mixing with camera photos and videos.
- Enables creating backups or archives of important statuses.
- Statuses don’t get lost among other media files.
WhatsApp Status Visibility
It’s important to note that the WhatsApp status media in the Statuses folder is still end-to-end encrypted. So the content remains private and not accessible to anyone except you and the recipients you shared each status update with.
If you shared your status with anyone, they can still view it for 24 hours. Saving a status to your device does not change its visibility or privacy settings.
Viewing Old Statuses
The Statuses folder contains your current status as well as any old statuses that you previously saved to your device. So you can still view and manage old statuses here after their 24 hour expiration:
- Open the Statuses folder in Internal Storage > WhatsApp > Media.
- Your current status will be in a “Current” folder.
- Saved old statuses are organized by date in separate folders like “Statuses 2021-08-24” for August 24 2021.
- Open any date folder to view and manage the saved statuses from that date.
Saving Important Statuses
If you want to save any important statuses beyond 24 hours, make sure to:
- Open the status in WhatsApp.
- Tap on the 3 dot menu icon.
- Select “Save to Device” option to save status to Statuses folder.
This will store the status in your phone’s internal storage even after it expires on WhatsApp. You can then view it offline from the Statuses folder anytime.
Deleting Old Statuses
Since all your WhatsApp statuses get saved in one place, it also makes bulk deleting old statuses you no longer need easier. To remove old statuses:
- Go to the Statuses folder in your phone’s internal storage.
- Select the dated status folders containing statuses you want to delete.
- Tap delete icon to permanently remove status folders and media.
This will help free up storage space on your device by removing unwanted old statuses.
Backing Up Statuses
If you want to create backups of important status updates like memories or important moments, you can now easily do so from the Statuses folder:
- Connect phone to computer and access WhatsApp > Media > Statuses folder.
- Copy the date folders you want to backup to computer or external storage.
- This preserves copies of statuses even if removed from phone storage.
Sharing Statuses from Folder
You can also quickly share saved statuses from the Statuses folder to other apps or contacts:
- Open Statuses folder and tap the status you want to share.
- Tap share icon on top.
- Choose the app or contact to share status media file with.
This allows easily reprising memorable statuses beyond WhatsApp.
Status Privacy
As mentioned earlier, status media saved to your device is still end-to-end encrypted. But once saved offline, do exercise caution before sharing statuses from device storage to other apps and contacts. Prefer sharing statuses directly on WhatsApp for optimal privacy.
No Access for Gallery Apps
It is important to note that in Android 11, gallery apps and other media viewing apps do not have access to your WhatsApp statuses folder. This prevents other apps from accessing your private statuses without your permission.
So your WhatsApp statuses in the Statuses folder are only visible and accessible within WhatsApp and your phone’s file explorer. Other apps cannot access them.
Customizing Visibility
Currently, there is no setting in WhatsApp to configure visibility of the Statuses folder. It is automatically created and managed by WhatsApp.
If you wish to customize which folders are visible in your phone’s storage, some file manager apps offer the option to hide folders. But this would hide the entire WhatsApp folder which may affect other functionality.
No Separate Folder on Older Versions
The dedicated WhatsApp Statuses folder is only available on Android 11 and higher. On older Android versions, statuses are saved along with your media files and not organized separately.
So if you don’t see a Statuses folder on your device, updating to Android 11 or newer will enable this dedicated status storage feature.
Summary
- WhatsApp status media now saves to a separate Statuses folder in Internal Storage > WhatsApp > Media.
- Helps organize, manage, backup and delete statuses more easily.
- Private encrypted statuses are only fully accessible in WhatsApp.
- Available only on Android 11 and above.
- Enables cleaner separation and organization of status media storage.