Saving photos from WhatsApp directly to your Camera Roll offers several conveniences. It provides a quick record of what your family and friends have sent, ensures you have copies in case an image is accidentally deleted from the messaging platform, and allows you to view media through the Photos app.
So, how do you save and transfer these files? You can do this either automatically or manually for individual pictures. Here’s how to do both.
How To Automatically Save Images From WhatsApp
Time needed: 1 minute
If you set WhatsApp to save images by default, you won’t need to download each one manually. You won’t even need to open the app to see the latest pictures. Follow these steps:
- Go to WhatsApp then navigate to Settings in the bottom-right of your interface.
- Tap on Chats.
- Toggle on Save to Photos.
Now, every photo that your contacts send to you will automatically appear in your Camera Roll. You’ll typically have to leave WhatsApp open in the background or go on it for this to happen; you don’t need to open any Chats, though.
However, if your internet is patchy, images might not download straight away. Also, bear in mind that the app compresses images, so the sender needs to make sure they’re uploading top-quality photos.
How To Save Individual Images From WhatsApp To Your iPhone
So what if you just want to save individual images to your smartphone? That’s simple to do too.
- Just tap on the image you want to save. This will bring it up to full size on your iPhone.
- Tap on the Share icon at the bottom-left of your screen. This looks like an arrow pointing upwards out of a square box.
- Now tap Save. The really neat thing is that you can do this with GIFs as well!
This step works even if you have automatic saving turned on. So let’s say you accidentally deleted an image after saving it to your Photos. Just go back to the relevant Chat, find the right picture, and download it to your iPhone again using the above method.
These methods are especially handy if you tend to delete Chats to save space (although there are other ways to declutter WhatsApp), or if you think the sender is likely to delete a photo you want to keep. Just remember to ask permission before downloading personal or private photos.