Given the popularity of the chat app WhatsApp today, it is common for many of us to have it on our desktops. Being able to type into a chat with a keyboard, especially if you are working from the desk or laptop, is easier than having to use your smartphone. At the same time, though, many of us use our WhatsApp accounts to talk to large groups of people.
For example, you could have a work group chat that involves the sharing of sensitive or private image content. The same goes for personal chats. Whatever you are sharing, you might not want those files leaving your WhatsApp chat – yet, for many, they are being saved to their laptop/desktop PC. Wondering how to delete WhatsApp images on a laptop?
Thankfully, the solution is pretty simple.
How to delete WhatsApp images in laptop and desktop pairing mode
If you delete the WhatsApp images from your phone’s storage, you might assume they are gone. Yet if your WhatsApp is paired up with your laptop or desktop PC, it will still be saved on the desktop client. Therefore, you need to make sure that it has been removed from both sources. How do you do this?
1. Start off by either downloading or opening the WhatsApp desktop client
2. Once the app is open, you need to open the message thread with the image(s) in question
3. Highlight the images that you wish to delete, and then click on the little trash can icon
4. Otherwise, highlight the message with the image attached, and click ‘Delete Message’
You can choose to delete the image for only yourself, or for everyone in the chat. If you click the ‘Delete file from your phone’ checkbox, also, you will delete the image completely from both desktop and mobile editions of the WhatsApp interface.
Why should I delete WhatsApp images on my laptop?
The simplest reason is storage. If you are part of various chat groups, you might find the sharing of GIFs, memes, funny images, and videos begin to build up. Over time, this can lead to extensive storage space being used that can become quite costly to hard drive space. Therefore, being able to remind yourself to go in and every now and then cleanse your laptop of these images is important.
This will avoid storage space being too over-used by images you do not really want/need to be storing on your laptop. Another reason is professionalism. If you happen to be using WhatsApp desktop chat on a work laptop, the last thing you want is a work presentation that ends up showing lots of previews of images of you and your mates out getting drunk!
The other reason is security. You might have shared personal information with someone you trust, or you might have shared a private or personal conversation. You might even be sending personal or private images that should only be seen by one person. Whatever the reason, though, remembering how to delete WhatsApp images on a laptop should be something you keep in mind.
Regular deletion and freeing up of space are highly recommended to keep your laptop running right. From a security and privacy perspective, too, this is very important to carry out. So, worried a WhatsApp image could land you in trouble? Then delete it using the above four-step process to ensure it is gone for good from both mobile and laptop.