- WhatsApp launches an advanced file cleaning tool with detailed content categories
- The new interface lets you choose which photos, videos, documents, or audio files to delete and which to keep.
- Messages and files marked as favorites are handled separately to prevent significant losses.
- The feature is in beta testing on iOS and Android and will help free up space in a more controlled way.
WhatsApp is fine-tuning a new file and chat cleanup tool designed to make deleting content less of a blind act. The goal is clear: to help free up space on your phone, but with much more control over what gets deleted and what gets kept in each conversation.
Instead of simply providing a generic confirmation notification, the messaging app introduces a step-by-step interface that categorizes files by type (photos, videos, documents, audio, stickers, etc.) and also distinguishes between messages and starred files. This allows users to decide with considerable precision what they want to delete, avoiding unpleasant surprises and the loss of important information.
A much clearer cleaning process to avoid mistakes
Until now, when trying to clear a chat or reduce the storage space occupied by WhatsApp, the app didn't always clearly indicate exactly what content would be deleted . This led to many users accidentally deleting important photos, receipts, or audio files they intended to keep.
With its new advanced cleanup tool, WhatsApp now displays a much more comprehensive confirmation screen on both iPhone and Android, explaining the deletion options in greater detail. Text messages, starred messages, and various media files are separated into categories, so you can see at a glance what will be deleted.
In this new view, users can choose to delete all messages , only some of them, or keep the starred ones . Additionally, they can access a specific "delete media" section where they can further refine their decisions, chat by chat.
The idea is that cleaning should no longer be an "all or nothing" process, but rather a more selective one, especially useful in very long conversations or family groups full of heavy photos and videos , which in Europe are one of the main reasons why mobile phone storage runs out.
In addition, each category displays the size of that file type , so the user knows how many megabytes or gigabytes they will free up before pressing the delete button. This makes it easier to understand the actual impact of the cleanup.
File categories: documents, photos, videos, stickers, and audio
The most noticeable change is in how content is now grouped within each chat. Instead of a single generic button, the tool offers separate checkboxes for WhatsApp documents, photos, videos, stickers, and audio files . Each category can be enabled or disabled independently.
This allows you, for example, to delete only the largest videos in a conversation without affecting the images, or to delete old documents while keeping the text messages intact. This feature is especially useful for those who also use WhatsApp for work or to receive important documents and files.
The application also includes a specific option called "clear starred media" or starred files deletion , intended for multimedia content that the user has starred. This includes photos, videos, audio files, or documents that have been marked as favorites at some point.
Many users in Spain and the rest of Europe use the starred messages and files system to save key information : invoices, tickets, important photos, important audio files, etc. By separating these items from the rest of the content, WhatsApp takes another step toward fine-tuning what gets deleted.
Within the cleanup menu, all these options are grouped under the "delete media files" section . There you can select only one category, combine several, or select them all, in case you want to perform a deep clean of that specific chat.
Favorite messages and files, safe if you want them to be.
One of the most striking aspects of this new feature is how WhatsApp manages starred content. The tool introduces a clearly labeled option to "delete everything except starred messages ," designed for those who need to free up a lot of space but don't want to lose critical information they've been saving for months or years.
If you choose this option, the application deletes all messages and files from the chat, keeping only those marked with a star . It's an intermediate solution that allows for a bulk cleanup without fear of losing invoices, document photos, or important audio files that were intentionally saved.
In addition, on both iOS and Android, the confirmation screen explicitly asks whether you want to keep or delete those starred messages and files . This way, the user doesn't find that they've disappeared without realizing it.
This categorization also extends to backups and how data size is calculated. The tool displays the total size of each type of content , helping you decide whether it's worth sacrificing a certain group of files to gain a few hundred megabytes or even several gigabytes on your mobile device.
Ultimately, WhatsApp tries to strike a balance between freeing up storage and preserving what's truly important , something crucial in devices with 64 or 128 GB, very common in the Spanish and European mid-range market.
How the new advanced cleaning tool works
The “advanced chat cleanup tool” builds upon the existing “Manage storage” section , but takes it a step further. Instead of simply displaying a generic notification, it provides a two-step guide that walks the user through the process.
At the first level, WhatsApp offers shortcuts to delete all messages in a chat or keep those marked with a star . From there, you can access the "delete media" section, where you'll find even more precise options.
On that second screen, the categories of documents, photos, videos, stickers, and audio appear , each with its own size indicator. As you check or uncheck boxes, the app recalculates and displays the space that will be freed if you confirm the action.
This view is available both from the information of each conversation and from the general chat list, so you can act on a group, an individual contact or several selected chats without having to enter them one by one.
The feature also includes familiar options like "clear chat ," which lets you delete messages and attachments from a conversation while maintaining the thread and contact. Now, with the new interface, this clearing process can be much more customized.
Tool in beta phase on iPhone and Android
For now, all these new features are being tested within WhatsApp's beta program . On iOS, the feature has been detected in beta versions such as 25.37.10.72, where the new screen cleaning feature is already active for a limited number of users.
On Android, the company is conducting similar tests with a small group of beta testers , following the same approach: first deploying the feature in a controlled "lab", correcting errors and, depending on the results, expanding the launch to all devices.
This type of staggered rollout is common at Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, which uses beta versions to evaluate the performance and acceptance of new features before they reach the stable version of the application available in Spain and the rest of Europe.
There is no official date yet for the general release of the advanced cleaning tool, but normally, once the testing phase is over, it will be activated through a standard app update , without needing to install anything additional or perform complicated configurations.
When this happens, the new interface will appear integrated into the settings of each chat and in the storage section , gradually replacing the simpler deletion system that currently exists in the stable version.
Impact on storage and daily mobile usage
The redesign of this tool responds to a reality that many users are well aware of: WhatsApp can end up taking up several gigabytes of internal memory after years of use, especially on mobile phones with cameras that generate high-quality photos and videos.
During holidays and special occasions, such as Christmas, New Year's, or other major events, the sending of images, videos, voice notes, and documents skyrockets , which quickly fills up storage space. Without regular cleanup, you can easily end up with "memory almost full" warnings and even crashes or failures when installing new apps.
The new advanced cleaning tool aims to make this task easier, offering a more intuitive and secure way to clear content . By seeing what is deleted, how much space it takes up, and what is kept, it becomes easier to make decisions without fear of losing valuable information.
For those who manage many work, family, or friend groups, where large files that are only needed once are constantly circulating , being able to identify and delete only those items can make the difference between an overloaded mobile phone and a device that continues to function smoothly.
For the average user in Spain and Europe, who typically uses WhatsApp as their main communication tool, this improvement translates into less frustration when deleting chats, fewer errors, and greater control over the available space on their phone.
With this redesign, WhatsApp's file cleaning tool goes from being a simple button to empty conversations to becoming an advanced panel for managing photos, videos, documents, and starred messages , designed to free up storage in an organized way, reduce accidental deletions, and adapt the app to the reality of increasingly content-laden mobile phones.
