WhatsApp wants to make clearing out easier for users. The messenger automatically saves files and received images, which quickly leads to an overloaded, digital garbage dump. The new memory management should therefore make sorting, checking and deleting clearer. The change will be available worldwide in the course of these weeks.

In a video, the Facebook subsidiary shows what the new administration looks like. “We heard you,” it says at the beginning. The fact that WhatsApp automatically saves media under a contact does not always meet with approval. So far you have to call up the individual chats, then the profile of a contact and only then can you access and delete the files received under the item “Media, Links and Docs”. Optionally, the memory usage can be viewed in the settings, here also groupings can be deleted in one go, e.g. all gifs that a contact has sent. However, you cannot view these in advance and make a selection. There is no collection point for all files received.

(Source: WhatsApp) Forgotten files on WhatsApp In addition, received images and videos can also be automatically saved in your own recordings . So if you haven’t switched this off in the settings, you’ve been garbage twice. The chats and voice messages are also in the app until you delete them manually. Many users are not even aware of how much space WhatsApp needs if you don’t keep order.

The storage space is threatening pushing its limits, WhatsApp warns and suggests which one to free. Now a new overview follows. Content that has been shared several times appears in a list, including previews, so that you can delete them directly and prevent duplications – optionally all content selected at once or with a click. Messenger also displays files that are larger than 5MB. This is followed by chats that tie up a lot of capacity. After the deletion, WhatsApp also rewards the tidying up with a display of how much storage space has now become free.

The recently announced function that messages are automatically deleted after seven days also hits a similar line. The introduction of “expiring messages” has appeared in the FAQs of WhatsApp.

(emw)