It can be little annoying and frustrating at times when the chat app automatically download all those stupid memes, audio files, videos and photos.
This not just makes the phone's gallery look like a complete mess, it also eats up you mobile data. Here is a fix to this to this problem.

For Android phones:

If you are an Android user, open your WhatsApp,
go to Settings>Data and storage usage>Media auto download.

Now uncheck all the three boxes under the Media auto download- when using mobile data, when connected on Wifi and when roaming.


For iPhones:

iPhone users can also de-clutter their phone from annoying audio file, videos and photos.
Open WhatsApp>Settings>Data and storage usage.

Now check the Never box for photos, videos, audio and documents.

Few quick points to save mobile data and phone storage when using the WhatsApp:

-- Stop auto-download of heavy files. Videos are entertaining but hog a lot of space on your phone.
You can always set the auto-download for such videos when on WiFi.



-- Allow chat back up but only on WiFi. WhatsApp stores all your text chats and images. While this is an important feature as it allows you to retrieve your photos later from Cloud, backing up on mobile data can eat up your mobile data. So try doing it only on WiFi.

-- WhatsApp has an option where you can view your contacts and how much space each is taking. Go to WhatsApp> Storage and data usage>Storage usage.