Since the inception of various social media platforms, the act of communication has evolved in so many significant ways. With the smartphone, you can reach out to thousands of people through social media platforms like Whatsapp. Although this is all cool, stopping automatic video download on Whatsapp could be a problem as many people do not know how to do this. Apart from videos, other media files like photos, WhatsApp status, including audios shared during chats sometimes find their way into your gallery and SD card without your knowledge. This happens as a result of the Whatsapp auto-save feature. And because of this, your gallery is cluttered with so many unwanted media files.
So, how can one stop automatic video download or any other media file like photos and stickers into the gallery and SD card? Simple, this can be done by disabling the auto-save feature of WhatsApp.
1) How to stop automatic Whatsapp video downloads on Android
- Open WhatsApp on your android device.
- At the top right corner of the home screen, tap on the Menu Button
- Select Settings
- On the setting page, select Storage and Data
- Here, you will see three separate option under Media Auto-Download which are Mobile Data, Wifi, and roaming
- Tap on each of them to uncheck photos, audio, videos, and documents.
- Click Ok after unchecking in each section and the trick is done!
With this process, you have successfully stopped the automatic downloads of videos, and also disabled auto-save of photos and Whatsapp status into your gallery and SD card on your android device. Nevertheless, if you wish to enable auto-downloads that allow your media files to stay within Whatsapp alone, here is what you need to put in place on your android device.
To re-enable auto-downloads on the Android version of WhatsApp
- At the top right corner of the home screen, click on the Menu Button
- Select Settings
- On the setting page, select Chats
- And just tap on the toggle beside media visibility
- And your new downloads will stay within the memory of WhatsApp
So, now that we’ve set up the solution process for android devices, let’s move further to that of iPhones.
2) How to Stop Automatic Whatsapp Video Downloads on iPhones
The fact that Whatsapp is fully encrypted has popularized its use. As long as users have mobile data, they can share as many media files that they want on WhatsApp, including the daily Whatsapp status.
However, the bad news is that most individuals do not know how to stop automatic video downloads and multiple photos shared on Whatsapp daily. As a result, these files are usually saved to your iPhones photo library automatically. Apart from them being unwanted, they consume a great amount of valuable space. The good news however is that you can prevent this default conduct by following these steps if you are using an iPhone.
Steps for stopping automatic video downloads on iPhones;
- Open your WhatsApp mobile app on your iPhone
- Click on the Settings Icon at the bottom right corner of your home screen
- Tap on the Chat setting
- Switched off the Save Incoming Media
Once this is completed, you have successfully stopped the automatic download of videos and other media files into your phone memory and SD card. Any file that will be downloaded will stay within the Whatsapp app.
To completely stop Whatsapp from downloading without your permission
- Open your Whatsapp on your iPhone
- On the home screen, tap on the Settings button
- Select the Data and Storage Usage
- Click on Videos, once it opens, Select Never
- Repeat the same process for photos and audios
When you have completed the above steps, media files ranging from photos, videos or stickers won’t be downloaded automatically again. If in the future, you want to save or download videos, photos, or any media files, here is how to go about it;
To save or download media files on WhatsApp
- Simply click on the file you wish to download
- Long press it for a few seconds
- Swipe up your screen and click on save
Another way you can do this is by simply tapping on the file, select the share icon on the bottom left corner of your screen and media will be saved to your phone.
3) How To Stop Automatic Download of Stickers on Whatsapp
As much as Whatsapp has evolved over the years, there is still a problem when users come together under the umbrella of “WhatsApp groups “. They suffer more as Whatsapp has not developed a mechanism or feature that controls what each member of a group can share per time. As a result of this, stopping automatic video download on WhatsApp and any other media file like photos and stickers becomes a herculean task. This can be very irritating at times. Apart from the groups, individual chats sometimes come with stickers that take up useful space on an SD card.
Just like videos and photos, WhatsApp automatically downloads stickers and Gif. It can be annoying or funny when you open your gallery to see a great number of stickers you never downloaded. So, How do you block these stickers from consuming your memory capacity?
It’s quite simple. If you are using an iPhone;
- Open your phone’s settings button
- Click on General
- Then select keyboard
- At the bottom of the screen, turn off the toggle next to Emoji Stickers
For Android, once you disable your auto-save following the steps already mentioned earlier, Whatsapp stickers too won’t be downloaded automatically except when you download them manually. Not forgetting that the ones you save will only be saved and used within Whatsapp only. With this little trick, you will gain control over what comes into your storage via Whatsapp.
So, if you have been wondering how to stop Whatsapp from saving photos and videos on your iPhone or Android, follow these simple steps to resolve it. It doesn’t stop at videos, once you have disabled auto-save, stickers, photos, audios automatically will stop downloading into your phone and SD card without your permission. We hope this is helpful.
