How to clear your WhatsApp chats step by step and free up space easily

Nowadays, WhatsApp It has become an indispensable tool in our daily lives. We use it to stay in touch with family, friends, coworkers, and even our gym group. However, over time, the chats, images, videos, and files we receive accumulate and can fill up our phone's memory, affecting its performance and functionality.

Therefore, learning to Empty WhatsApp chats correctly It's a key skill for those who want to free up space, maintain their device's speed, and still enjoy a smooth app experience. If you've ever wondered how you can delete old messages, unnecessary media files, or clear your chat history without losing access to your contacts, here's how. a practical and very detailed guide designed so that nothing escapes you.

Why clearing WhatsApp chats can save your phone

Thousands of people share messages, photos, videos, audios, and documents every day through WhatsApp. All of this content is stored on the phone's internal memory, and although it seems harmless, When accumulated, it can slow down the device., leaving you with no room for new ones apps and even prevent new files from downloading to your phone.

The app does not have a trash can like other platforms, so Properly managing your WhatsApp space requires knowing the internal and external options. that the app itself and the operating system make available to you. Emptying chats can be the simplest and most effective solution to improve your device's performance without losing all your conversation history.

Additionally, WhatsApp offers tools to manage the storage and backups, allowing you to keep those conversations or files that are really important and get rid of what you no longer need.

Emptying, deleting, and archiving chats: key differences

Before we get down to business, it is important understand the difference between emptying, deleting, and archiving a chat, as each option has different consequences on your data and storage space:

• Clear chat: deletes all messages and files from a conversation (individual or group), but the chat remains visible in your list.
  On Android, open the conversation, tap the three dots at the top, select "More," then "Clear Chat." On iOS, swipe left on the conversation, tap "More," then "Clear Chat."
• Delete chat: Completely deletes the entire conversation from your chat list, including messages and files. You'll need to create a new chat to talk to that person again if you delete it.
  On Android, you do this by long-pressing on the chat in the main tab and tapping the trash can icon. iPhone, choose “More” and then “Delete chat”.
• Archive chat: hides the conversation from the main view, but does not delete messages or filesYou can restore it at any time and continue receiving messages if your settings allow it.

To keep your conversations organized without losing access to your contacts or groups, emptying is the best option if you want to free up space. On the other hand, deleting is the final step to erase all traces of a conversation.

What happens when you clear a WhatsApp chat?

When you use the clear chat option, All messages and media files from that conversation are deleted only on your deviceBut be careful! The history doesn't disappear for other people in that chat; they'll still see all the messages, photos, and videos as if nothing had happened.

The chat itself will continue to appear in the main WhatsApp tab, although completely empty, maintaining the conversation structure so you can resume it whenever you want. You can apply this feature to both individual and group chats, and if necessary, you can repeat the process with as many conversations as you like.

Step by step: How to clear a chat on WhatsApp (Android and iOS)

The method for clearing chats may vary slightly between Android and iPhone. Here's a clear and simple explanation for both:

On Android:

• Open WhatsApp and go to the tab Cat.
• In the list, select the chat you want to clear and open it.
• Click the three vertical dots icon at the top right.
• Tap on “More" and later "empty chat".
• Select whether you also want to delete media files from the gallery.
• Confirm by tapping on “empty chat"The conversation will be completely clear.

On iPhone (iOS):

• Go to WhatsApp and access the tab Cat.
• Swipe left on the conversation you want to clear.
• Click on "More” and choose “empty chat".
• Select “Delete all messages” (you can choose to keep starred messages and archives if you wish).
• Press "empty chat" to confirm.

In both cases, messages and media files will be deleted from your phone only. However, if you have starred messages and choose to keep them, they will remain safe.

How to delete all WhatsApp chats at once

If you want to do a deep cleaning and Clear all WhatsApp chats without deleting contacts or conversations, there is a shortcut that will allow you to do it easily.

On Android:

• Open WhatsApp and go to “Settings".
• Go to "Cat"And select"chat history".
• Tap on “empty all chats".
• Choose whether you also want to delete starred messages and media files from your gallery.
• Confirm the action and all chats will be empty.

On iOS:

• Go to WhatsApp and click on “Configuration".
• Choose "Cat” and choose “empty all chats".
• Enter your phone number to confirm the cleaning.
• Click again on “empty all chats”To complete the process.

This way, you can keep your WhatsApp organized and have free space, without losing the structure of your contact network.

What happens to media files when I clear a chat?

When cleaning up WhatsApp, it's important to understand where photos, videos, and other files are stored. When you clear a chat, You can decide whether to also delete media files from the phone gallery or just from the conversation. If you choose to delete them from the gallery, they'll disappear from the device's storage. However, if you only clear the chat without selecting that option, the files will remain in the gallery even though they're no longer in WhatsApp.

This decision helps you preserve important photos or documents and avoid deleting files you want to keep.

Backup and Restore: How to Protect Your Conversations

Before emptying the chats, it is essential verify that you have an up-to-date backupThis way, you can recover messages and files if you accidentally delete something important.

WhatsApp makes automatic backups to the cloud: Google Drive on Android e iCloud on iOSYou can review them by following these steps:

• On Android, open Google Drive, go to “Backups” and check the latest copy of WhatsApp.
• On iOS, go to your phone's settings, log into iCloud, and look for your WhatsApp backup.

If you clear chats and then make a new copy, old messages will be lost foreverTherefore, it's advisable to make a manual backup before proceeding if you want to keep certain conversations or files.

How to manually delete media files from WhatsApp

For those who wish to go deeper into cleaning, they can also delete media files directly from storage foldersThis is done through the mobile file manager (common on Android):

• Access the folder Internal Storage > Android > Media > com.whatsapp > WhatsApp > Media.
• There you will find folders like WhatsApp Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, among others.
• Manually delete files you don't want to keep to free up additional space.

This option is especially useful if you have a lot of files in your gallery and want to delete only certain items without affecting the associated chats or conversations.

Additional settings to prevent WhatsApp from filling up your phone

To keep your device clean in the long term, it is recommended disable automatic file download in WhatsAppThis way, you'll avoid unnecessary photos, videos, and audio files from accumulating in your memory.

You can adjust this in “Settings”>“Storage and data” and select which file types are automatically downloaded based on your connection (mobile data, Wi-Fi, roaming).

This way, you'll have more control over which files you want to keep on your phone and which ones you'd prefer to automatically delete.

Export chats: Keep what's important before cleaning up

If you want to save a copy of important conversations or files before emptying chats, you can export complete or selected chatsThis feature allows you to save all your conversations along with their media files to an external location (computer, hard drive, cloud services, etc.).

To export a chat:

• Open the conversation, tap the three dots (Android) or “More” (iOS).
• Choose "Export chat".
• Choose whether you want to include multimedia files or just text.
• Save the generated ZIP file to the chosen location.

This is the best way to preserve memories, documents, or relevant information without overloading your device's storage.

Group chat features: What happens if you delete or clear a group?

In the group chatClearing messages removes all content from your view, but you'll still be part of the group. If you want to delete the group entirely, you'll need to leave it first, and then you'll be able to delete it. On iPhone, the process involves swiping left, selecting "Leave Group," and then "Delete Group." On Android, after leaving the group, you delete the chat like any individual conversation.

What happens to starred messages when I clear chats?

An interesting feature of WhatsApp is that when you clear a chat, You can decide whether to keep or delete starred messages.This feature allows you to keep important information you'd like to save, reviewing this option before confirming the deletion. If you choose to delete the entire chat, starred messages will also automatically disappear.

Closing and archiving chats: additional options to organize your WhatsApp

In addition to clearing and deleting, WhatsApp offers other ways to keep your conversations organized:

• File: Hide the conversation from the main list without deleting it, ideal for inactive chats that you want to keep.
• Close chat: (on WhatsApp for Windows) closes the active tab without affecting any chat messages or files.

These features make managing and organizing easier, allowing you to quickly access chats when you need them.

Additionally, deleting old backups from Google Drive or iCloud helps manage cloud space and keep only relevant and up-to-date data.

As you can see, WhatsApp provides you with various tools to control, clean up, and organize your conversations easily and securely. By following these steps, you'll be able to Free up space on your phone and keep your device in optimal condition, without losing important information. This way, you'll enjoy a faster, more organized, and more efficient experience in an app we use every day.