WhatsApp’s New Storage Trick Frees Your Phone (and Why Meta’s Stock Is Smiling)
29 October 2025
14 mins read

WhatsApp’s New Storage Trick Frees Your Phone (and Why Meta’s Stock Is Smiling)

  • Per-Chat Storage Control: WhatsApp is testing a new feature that lets users manage and delete media files from individual chat info screens, offering much finer control over storage usage [1]. Instead of a single global storage menu, you’ll be able to see exactly how much space each chat or group is consuming.
  • How It Works: The tool displays all photos, videos, and documents shared in a given chat, organized in a grid by file size [2]. Users can sort the media by “Newest,” “Oldest,” or “Largest” to quickly find space hogs, then bulk-select multiple items for deletion in one go [3] [4]. There’s even an option to “star” favorite media so they’re easy to find later and aren’t accidentally deleted [5].
  • Beta Testing Now: This per-chat storage management feature is currently rolling out to some beta users on both Android and iOS [6] [7]. It was first spotted in WhatsApp’s TestFlight beta for iOS (version 25.31.10.70) and a recent Android beta, according to WABetaInfo [8]. WhatsApp is gathering feedback and monitoring performance in beta before a wider release [9]. If all goes well, the update is expected to reach all users in the coming weeks or months [10].
  • Why It Matters for Users: This update tackles a common problem – overflowing WhatsApp media that clogs up your phone. Until now, users had to dig into Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage to clean up files, or manually check each chat’s “Media, Links, and Docs” (which didn’t show file sizes) [11] [12]. The new in-chat tool changes the game by providing a focused, convenient way to identify which chats are eating up the most space without sifting through all conversations [13]. It’s particularly useful for active group chats or family threads that trade lots of photos, videos, and memes – helping you free up space without deleting entire chats [14]. As one tech outlet put it, once broadly available this feature “will bring greater flexibility and control to users” looking to declutter their devices [15] [16].
  • Meta’s Stock Angle: WhatsApp’s quality-of-life improvements come as its parent company Meta Platforms sees booming investor confidence. Meta’s stock price has surged about 25% this year (and over +150% from its 2022 lows), recently touching all-time highs around $789 per share in August [17]. It’s now hovering near $730 as of late October. Wall Street is optimistic – 44 out of 50 analysts rate Meta a “Buy” and many have been raising price targets to $850–$900 [18]. One big reason? Meta’s massive user engagement across its apps. Analysts specifically cite WhatsApp’s huge reach and activity as a key growth driver for the company [19] [20]. In fact, Meta still has “long-term levers in messaging and commerce yet to pull fully” [21] – meaning WhatsApp’s monetization potential (through features like WhatsApp Business) remains largely untapped. New features that keep WhatsApp’s 2.8 billion users happy and engaged [22] ultimately support Meta’s growth story, which is why investors are paying attention to even these small but meaningful updates.

WhatsApp Targets a Big Pain Point: Storage Bloat

If you’ve ever been greeted by the dreaded “storage full” message thanks to WhatsApp, you’re not alone. Over years of chats, WhatsApp can quietly gobble up gigabytes of space with all the images, videos, voice notes, and documents bouncing around your conversations. Until now, cleaning that up has been a bit of a chore – the app offered a global storage management menu and a per-chat media gallery, but neither gave a simple way to see which chats were the worst offenders.

That’s why users are buzzing about WhatsApp’s upcoming per-chat storage management tool. First revealed by the WhatsApp-watchers at WABetaInfo, this feature adds a “Manage Storage” option inside each chat’s info page [23]. Tap on a contact or group’s info, and you’ll be able to review that conversation’s media footprint in detail. Instead of hunting through the main Settings for storage info, everything is right in the chat context – a design move aimed at “simplify(ing) user experience and reduce the strain on phone storage,” as one report describes [24]. In essence, WhatsApp is putting a mini storage cleaner directly where people spend most of their time: inside the chats.

What exactly can you do with it? Once inside a chat’s Manage Storage section, you’ll see a neat dashboard of all the files exchanged in that chat. It presents a gallery-style view with thumbnails of photos, videos, GIFs, voice notes, and documents shared, sorted by their size [25]. At a glance, you might notice that a few 100MB videos or a backlog of memes are chewing up space. You can toggle sorting to find the largest files first, or the newest/oldest, making it easy to spot the biggest space hogs [26]. Importantly, the interface also displays the total storage used by that chat on your device – info that previously wasn’t visible per chat in WhatsApp’s normal media view [27] [28].

Armed with that info, users can take action immediately. The new tool lets you select multiple items at once and delete them in bulk, right then and there [29]. For example, you could tick all those lengthy videos your relatives sent, delete them en masse, and instantly reclaim hundreds of megabytes. By integrating bulk deletion into the chat screen, WhatsApp is streamlining what used to require multiple steps in settings. On the flip side, if you spot cherished photos you want to keep, you can mark them as “starred” within this interface [30]. Starred media won’t be removed and remain easy to find later, even if you clean out the rest of the junk. Essentially, it’s a surgical strike on storage waste – remove the excess while preserving the important stuff.

From Beta to Your Phone: When to Expect the Update

As of now, this feature is in beta testing, which means it’s not on everyone’s WhatsApp yet. According to reports, WhatsApp added the per-chat storage tool in the latest iOS beta (v25.31.10.70 on TestFlight) and a recent Android beta (v2.25.31.13) [31] [32]. A handful of users who opted into WhatsApp’s beta programs have access to it, and early feedback seems positive – the tool works similarly to the existing storage manager, just more conveniently placed [33].

WhatsApp hasn’t announced an exact public release date, but signs point to a rollout in the near future. The company typically tests new features in beta for a few weeks to a few months, depending on complexity. In this case, because it’s a UI enhancement rather than a whole new service, it might not be a long wait. The fact that it’s already live on both major platforms in beta suggests maturity. Tech outlets speculate we “shouldn’t have to wait too long” given the advanced development progress [34]. The Hindustan Times notes that while WhatsApp hasn’t officially confirmed the timing, the feature could arrive “in the coming months” for all Android and iOS users [35]. So optimistically, by late 2025 or early 2026, we’ll likely see a WhatsApp update that includes this storage management upgrade.

When it does land, it will be part of an app update via the Play Store or App Store. Users probably won’t need to do anything special – the feature will simply show up as a new option in each chat’s menu. Keep an eye out for WhatsApp’s release notes or blog announcements for confirmation of the rollout. And if you’re adventurous, you can always join the WhatsApp Beta program to try new features early (with the usual caveat that beta software can be buggy).

Why Users Have Been Asking for This

For power users and people in media-heavy chats, this change is more than a minor tweak – it’s addressing a long-standing headache. Storage overload has been among the top complaints for WhatsApp users, especially in countries where the app is a primary means of sharing photos and videos (think of all the birthday videos, festival greetings, and good morning images that accumulate). Until now, figuring out which conversation was the culprit behind a bloated WhatsApp footprint meant using some guesswork or third-party cleaner apps.

The old way to manage storage on WhatsApp involved a bit of digging: you’d go to Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage, where WhatsApp lists all chats sorted by how much space they take [36]. That was useful, but somewhat hidden in the settings. Alternatively, within each chat you could view media via “Media, Links, and Docs,” but crucially that view didn’t show file sizes or cumulative space [37]. So you might scroll through a chat’s media and have no idea if it’s 50 MB or 500 MB worth of data. This lack of per-chat storage info has meant many users only realize there’s a problem when their phone storage is nearly full.

The new feature directly tackles this: it makes storage info transparent at the chat level and, importantly, keeps the user in context. “It introduces a more focused and convenient way to identify storage-heavy chats without having to sort through files from all conversations,” as one report described [38]. In practical terms, if your device is low on space, you can now pinpoint, say, that your college friends group chat is consuming 2 GB because of all those shared videos – and you can clean it up right from that chat. No need to wade through a phone-wide list of files or use trial and error deleting things.

This granular control is a big win for users with limited storage phones (common in emerging markets, where WhatsApp is hugely popular) and for anyone who uses WhatsApp for work or large group communications. “We all have that one group that floods our phone with photos, videos or memes,” a Moneycontrol tech desk writer noted, underscoring how routine the problem is [39]. By making cleanup easier, WhatsApp is effectively helping users prolong their device’s storage and avoid the nuclear option of deleting entire chat histories or apps. As the HT Tech team summed up, once widely available the feature will bring “greater flexibility and control to users, helping them declutter their chats and free up valuable phone storage without losing important conversations.” [40]

Part of WhatsApp’s Steady Stream of Updates

This per-chat storage tool arrives amid a flurry of improvements and new features WhatsApp has been rolling out over the past year. The messaging giant – which boasts around 2.78 billion users worldwide as of 2025 [41] – has been steadily evolving to keep its vast user base engaged (and fend off competition). Even such a small quality-of-life update fits into WhatsApp’s broader strategy of refining the user experience.

Notably, WhatsApp has been upping the ante on media quality and sharing, which makes the storage feature especially timely. In late 2023, the app finally enabled users to send HD photos and videos, answering a long-standing demand for higher-quality media sharing. By September 2023, Meta confirmed that both HD photo and HD video support had rolled out globally on WhatsApp [42]. That means your friends can send 4K-resolution pics of their baby or 1080p videos from a concert – but those come with larger file sizes that can fill up a phone quickly. Now with per-chat storage info, you can better manage the impact of all that HD content on your device. It’s a one-two punch: first give users the ability to send richer media, then give them the tools to manage the extra storage those files consume.

WhatsApp’s recent updates go far beyond just storage tweaks. In 2023–25, the platform introduced features like Chat Lock (to password-protect specific chats), Channels (a one-to-many broadcasting feature for updates, similar to Telegram’s channels), and even AI chatbots. In fact, at Meta’s Connect event in 2025, the company unveiled a Meta AI assistant that’s accessible in WhatsApp, allowing users to ask an AI questions right within their chats. The app also gained the ability to screen-share during video calls, got a native Mac app to support bigger video meetings, and increased group call capacities [43]. There’s a clear pattern: WhatsApp is rapidly closing the feature gap between simple messaging and a fuller communications platform.

All these enhancements serve a dual purpose. Firstly, they make WhatsApp more useful and “sticky” for users – important when rivals like Telegram and Signal are a tap away, and when even iMessage (for iPhone users) is under pressure to interoperate. (It’s worth noting that WhatsApp stands to gain if Apple is forced to open up iMessage to other platforms under new EU regulations [44], potentially leveling the playing field on iPhones where WhatsApp competes with iMessage’s default status.) Secondly, features like communities, payments, business catalogs, and now better storage control, all pave the way for WhatsApp to be more than just a chat app – it’s part of Meta’s plan to monetize messaging. WhatsApp has introduced paid business tools and in-chat commerce in some regions, and a cleaner, more user-friendly app encourages people to use it even more, which in turn benefits those budding revenue streams.

Meta’s Stock Surge and WhatsApp’s Role

It might seem odd to connect a storage management feature to a company’s stock price, but for Meta Platforms, everything WhatsApp does is part of a bigger picture. Meta’s flagship social apps (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) form a family of products that collectively drive its financial performance. Investors know that happy, engaged WhatsApp users today could mean opportunities for monetization tomorrow – whether through ads (WhatsApp has cautiously started dabbling in ads via its Status feature), business services, or integrating AI and shopping.

Right now, investor sentiment on Meta is extremely bullish, and WhatsApp is one of the unsung heroes in that narrative. Meta’s quarterly results have been strong – in Q2 2025, revenue jumped 22% year-on-year, and another ~22% jump is expected in Q3 (which was scheduled to report Oct 29) [45] [46]. A key driver behind this growth, as noted by analysts, is the “continued strength in engagement, especially on Instagram and WhatsApp” [47]. In other words, billions of people are using Meta’s apps more than ever, and that includes countless WhatsApp messages, calls, and shared media every day. Even though WhatsApp itself currently generates a smaller portion of Meta’s revenue (mostly via WhatsApp Business APIs and Click-to-Message ads on Facebook that open a WhatsApp chat), its value lies in retaining the user ecosystem. The more entwined people become in WhatsApp for daily communication, the more Meta can build services on top of it down the road.

Meta’s stock has been on a tear in 2025, reflecting these positive trends. By late October, META shares were up about 25% year-to-date and a whopping ~150% from the depths of 2022 [48]. In mid-August, the stock hit roughly $789 – an all-time high for the company [49]. It has since settled in the mid-$700s, but that’s still a reflection of renewed confidence in Meta’s direction. Much of that confidence comes from Meta’s embrace of AI and the recovery of the digital ad market, but the strength of core products like WhatsApp is a foundational piece.

Wall Street analysts have been raising their expectations accordingly. As of this month, 44 of 50 analysts who cover Meta have a “Buy” rating on the stock, and many have hiked their price targets into the $850–900 range for the next 12–18 months [50]. For instance, Youssef Squali at Truist Securities recently upped his target to $900, citing expectations of “solid user engagement and improved monetization” as key reasons [51]. Engagement is exactly what WhatsApp delivers in spades – the app is reportedly the most used messaging platform in over 100 countries and handles around 100 billion messages per day (figures that Meta often shares to highlight WhatsApp’s scale). That kind of usage is a goldmine, if Meta can find gentle ways to monetize it without driving users away. Another analyst team, Stifel, labeled Meta a “top pick” and explicitly pointed out that Meta still has “long-term levers in messaging and commerce yet to pull fully” [52]. Translation: WhatsApp’s future revenue potential is still largely untapped, and any moves that increase its utility and user stickiness (like feature updates that keep people happy) are laying groundwork for that potential.

It’s worth noting that Meta has begun carefully exploring revenue on WhatsApp via WhatsApp Business (which lets companies chat with customers, send notifications, etc., for a fee) and through advertisements that link to WhatsApp chats. In Meta’s Q2 2025 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted that Click-to-Message ads (where a Facebook or Instagram ad opens a WhatsApp chat with a business) had become a multi-billion-dollar business for the company, growing rapidly. This shows how WhatsApp’s ubiquity can indirectly print money for Meta. And this is likely just the start – features like in-app payments and shops in WhatsApp are already popular in markets like India and Brazil. As those expand, the seamless user experience will be crucial. Having a clutter-free app that isn’t bogged down by storage issues is part of ensuring users (and businesses) keep embracing WhatsApp for more purposes.

From an investor standpoint, WhatsApp is often mentioned in the same breath as Instagram as pillars of Meta’s growth. The stronger these platforms are in terms of user satisfaction and engagement, the more confidence investors have in Meta’s overall resilience. That’s especially important as Meta navigates challenges in other areas (for example, the heavy spending on the Reality Labs division for VR/AR, and regulatory pressures in the EU). The market appears to believe that Meta’s 3-billion-user ecosystem, with WhatsApp as a core component, gives the company a durable advantage [53]. So when WhatsApp rolls out an update that fixes a pain point for potentially billions of users, it’s not just a nice tech story – it’s a reminder of the platform’s sheer scale and influence. Little wonder, then, that Meta’s stock has been a standout performer; as one market analyst quipped, Meta went “from the penalty box to an AI winner” in Wall Street’s eyes over the past year [54], and its ability to keep improving apps like WhatsApp is part of that redemption arc.

The Bottom Line

For the average WhatsApp user, the coming per-chat storage management feature is a welcome quality-of-life improvement. It addresses a mundane but significant problem – the gradual accumulation of digital clutter – with an elegant, user-friendly solution. No more surprises about which chat is chewing up space; no more onerous clean-up sessions deleting files one by one. Instead, WhatsApp is handing its billions of users a simple dashboard to stay on top of storage use on a chat-by-chat basis. As tech experts have noted, this change “makes it easier to learn which files are taking up the most storage… rather than having to trawl through a global gallery” [55], thereby empowering users to keep their phones running smoothly.

On a broader level, this update exemplifies WhatsApp’s renewed focus on user experience. In the past couple of years, the app has shed its reputation for slow feature development and launched a torrent of updates – from privacy enhancements to multimedia improvements – all while maintaining its core promise of simple, reliable messaging. Each new tweak, however small, reinforces why WhatsApp remains the world’s go-to messaging service. And with parent company Meta counting on WhatsApp’s popularity as a pillar of its business, these “small” improvements take on larger significance. They keep users engaged and satisfied, which in turn gives Meta more runway to introduce business-oriented features and monetization down the line.

So the next time you open WhatsApp, check your chat settings – you might soon find a new option that helps you reclaim storage space with a few taps. It’s the kind of practical update that doesn’t grab flashy headlines but will quietly make daily life easier for millions (if not billions) of people. In the grand scheme, WhatsApp’s latest trick to free up your phone’s memory is both a nod to user feedback and a savvy move to strengthen the app’s foundation. And if Meta’s stock investors are smiling, it’s because they know a more user-friendly WhatsApp today means a more valuable WhatsApp ecosystem tomorrow – something that benefits everyone from casual texters to Fortune 500 companies connecting with customers on the app. In short, WhatsApp’s new storage tool isn’t just about bytes and files; it’s about keeping the world’s most popular chat app a comfortable, thriving place to connect, all while Meta builds on that momentum for its next chapter.

Sources:

  • Business Standard – “Soon, WhatsApp will add per-chat storage management to Android and iOS” (Oct 28, 2025) [56] [57]
  • Hindustan Times (HT Tech) – “WhatsApp to soon let users manage storage for each chat individually” (Oct 28, 2025) [58] [59]
  • Sada Elbalad (see.news) – “WhatsApp Adds New Tool to Manage Storage from Chats” (Oct 27, 2025) [60] [61]
  • MacRumors – “WhatsApp Will Soon Let You Manage Storage on a Per-Chat Basis” (Oct 28, 2025) [62] [63]
  • WABetaInfo – WhatsApp beta updates for Android/iOS (Oct 24, 2025) [64] [65]
  • Moneycontrol Tech – “WhatsApp is making it easier to manage chat storage: 5 key things to know” (Oct 28, 2025) [66] [67]
  • TS2 Technology – “Meta’s October 2025 Shockwave: AI Gambits, Sky-High Stock & Bold New Bet$ Unveiled” (Oct 29, 2025) [68] [69]
  • The Verge – “WhatsApp now supports HD photos and video” (Sept 6, 2023) [70]
  • Verloop Blog – “WhatsApp Statistics for 2025” (Apr 3, 2025) [71]
WhatsApp is eating up your iPhone storage 😞

References

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