How to block automatic media downloads on WhatsApp
WhatsApp is an easy to use messaging client for mobile devices. It features group chats, options to send photos, video or audio messages, and transfers all communication data via the Internet so that you do not have to pay ridiculous fees for SMS or MMS messages.
It is actually very easy to share media data using WhatsApp. All you have to do is tap on the attachment icon while in conversation mode to select one of the available options that WhatsApp makes available here.
Besides options to share photos, videos and audio contents, it also enables you to share your location or contacts.
Depending on who you communicate with, you may encounter situations where you are bombarded with images or other media contents.
If you are connected to mobile data, only images will be downloaded by default, while all media will be downloaded if you are connected on Wi-Fi.
Side note: voice messages are always downloaded according to WhatsApp for "the best communication experience".
You may want to change how media downloads are handled by the application. You can configure it to be stricter in regards to downloads, for instance to block all media downloads by default, or configure it to allow video and audio downloads while you are using mobile data.
Here is how you configure that
- Open the WhatsApp application on your device. The list of chats should be displayed to you.
- Tap on the menu icon at the top right corner and select Settings from the context menu. Note that the location may be different depending on which smartphone you are using.
- Select Chat Settings on the settings page. You find other useful preference here as well that deal with other features such as notifications or your profile.
- Locate Media auto-download on the chat settings page and tap on it.
- Here you find preferences for "when using mobile data", "when connected on Wi-Fi" and "When roaming".
- You can enable or disable the automatic download of images, audio or video contents for each of the connection states individually.
If you want to block all media downloads by default, disable automatic image downloads under mobile data, and all three media download types under Wi-Fi.
This can be useful if you get lots of images while you are using mobile data, as it may use save mobile data for other activities if you are on a limited data plan.
If you have disabled the downloading of certain media types, you will see a download button in place instead. It highlights the size of the data if it is a video or audio file, and if you tap on it, will download the data to your device.
Images are displayed in a preview mode of sorts which you can use to determine whether you want to download them right away, at a later point in time, or not at all.
Advertisement
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?