How often do you hold a clean-up of your WhatsApp? Because even with that, you are all collecting data in the cloud. From the digital clean-up tips we shared earlier, such as for your photo and video archive and mailbox, we know that all that digital clutter also has a negative impact on the planet. This time, we'll help you sweep through WhatsApp and then keep that fine app in some order. Mother Earth and the structure junkie in you will thank you if you have pulled off this chore. Cleaning up your WhatsApp, get to work!
The environmental impact of WhatsApp
When you think of tidying up, the first thing that comes to mind is all the physical stuff in your house, but digitally you also make a lot of clutter. Take WhatsApp for instance. All those apps, voice messages, funny gifs and videos take up space. And for that space in the cloud, data centres have to work very hard, and those data centres in turn use a lot of energy and water. So with all your digital possessions, you also contribute to global warming. And not so little too. Figures from 2023 show that more than 100 billion WhatsApp messages are sent every day and that we spend a combined two billion minutes worldwide on voice and video calls via WhatsApp. So, those are long stories! How many minutes of those are yours? And to complete the addiction: an average WhatsApp user opens the app about 25 times a day. We really don't want to miss anything from our friends and family.
WhatsApp tidying up: tips
The following tips are based on a Samsung smartphone with an Android operating system. It may be that it works in a slightly different way on your phone because the operating system is different. But all WhatsApp's functionalities are the same on every phone. So don't blame us, blame WhatsApp if you had to search longer.
- If you get started with cleaning up your WhatsApp, the first tip is to start at the bottom with the oldest conversations. Chances are that's where you'll find most of the one-on-one conversations, baby showers, surprise parties and children's parties that are long gone.
- If you are rather wedded to old messages, you can also choose to check for photos and videos in each chat that you want to keep. In that case, secure them first by downloading them to your gallery (and then your photo and video cloud storage) before starting the next deletion actions.
- Set a time each day - say 15 minutes - that you want to devote to this tidying task. Old one-to-one conversations can be deleted very easily with one action. In your contacts list, long tap on the chat until you see the bin that allows you to delete the chat and thus the person from your list. Don't worry: this does not remove the contact from your phone, only the chat.
- In that contact list, you will probably also come across old group apps where you participant of are. To remove them, go after the chat (as if you wanted to chat something in the group). Instead, in the chat, tap the three dots at the top right. Click ‘More’ and choose ‘Leave group’. Then go back to the contacts list. Long tap on the group you just left so that you see a bin again. Delete the group. If you no longer need the photos and videos from this chat, tick to delete them immediately as well.
- Delete old group apps where you have the administrator of being goes something else. Pay close attention: go after the chat (as if you want to chat something in the group). Instead, tap the group name at the top of the chat. Scroll down until you see all participants listed below each other and remove everyone from the group. Only then remove yourself from the group and finally remove the whole group. You have to go through all these steps, otherwise the group will remain and someone else will become the administrator.
Keeping your WhatsApp tidy
If you've motivated yourself to do this tidying job, of course you'll want to keep it tidy once you've done it - applause by the way if you've succeeded! Apart from the fact that it's smart to repeat this tidying chore every quarter, there are a few more things you can do to make the cloud, and therefore planet, a bit less of a burden with those cosy apps you send and receive every day.
- Default message timer: in WhatsApp's privacy settings, you can set a timer that automatically deletes chats after 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days. On the one hand, this is convenient because it means you don't have to think about it anymore. On the other hand, it can also cause hassle if you need old information or forgot to save a cosy photo or video. That is then gone and you have to request it again.
- Are received photos or videos by default in your phone's photo gallery and therefore perhaps also in the cloud? You can turn this off in your Settings. Go to ‘Chats’ and then to ‘Media visibility’. This slider should be closed/disabled if you want to save less data.
- In what quality do you send photos and videos? You can choose between ‘Standard quality’ and ‘HD quality’. The latter option is (unnecessarily) heavy and also takes longer. So choose ‘Standard quality’, found in the ‘Settings’ menu and then ‘Storage and Data’.
- Handy: under ‘Storage and Data’, you can also see how much storage you use, what your large files are and who you have the most data traffic with. To do this, go to ‘Manage storage’.
- Still in the ‘Storage and Data’ menu is a tick to consume less data during calls. This tick is off by default. Turn it on if you want to use less data with WhatsApp.
Your WhatsApp tidying tips?
Do you have any handy tips for cleaning up your WhatsApp yourself? Let us know! Even if you got completely stuck while doing the tips because you didn't find our explanations clear or because your phone works very differently - irritating, we understand too. We lovingly improve and clarify this article. You can find the contact buttons at the bottom of the page. Unfortunately, we don't have greenlist-WhatsApp yet, but we do have email and social media You know where to find us so!
More sustainable tips from thegreenlist.nl
- Also see: tips for using the internet more sustainably.
- Also see: tips for finding good second-hand gagdets. Saves a lot!
Sources: BBC, Wed, Trengo. Photo credits: main image: Cotton Bro (Pexels).
