WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. Millions of people use it to communicate with friends and family members. However, users have reported WhatsApp images not showing up in the gallery on their iPhone or Android phones. And it’s not just the images. Even the videos and audio files aren’t showing up on the Gallery app for some users.

whatsapp images not showing in gallery

If you are having this issue, don’t worry – we have some troubleshooting steps that will help you fix it once and for all! Let us look at these steps in detail below and fix the “WhatsApp images not showing in gallery” issue comfortably.

How to Fix WhatsApp Images Not Showing in Gallery on Android

1. Turn on Media Visibility

In most cases, the media visibility settings are the culprit for not showing WhatsApp media in the gallery app. However, fixing it is relatively easy; let us have a look.

  1. Launch WhatsApp on your Android device and click on the three-dot icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
    whatsapp setting
  2. Here, select Settings from the drop-down list.
  3. Now, click on the Chats option and under the chat settings, you will find the option for Media Visibility.
    whatsapp chats
  4. If the option is disabled, enable it. However, if it’s already enabled and you still cannot access WhatsApp images in gallery app, disable and enable the Media visibility option once again.
    whatsapp media visibility

2. Delete .nomedia File

If WhatsApp images are not showing up in the gallery app even after trying the above method, you should delete the .nomedia file.

Here’s how you do it:

  1. Open the file manager app on your Android phone. (We recommend using the Solid File Explorer app to access the hidden files)
  2. Now, navigate to the WhatsApp folder in your internal storage. If you cannot find the Whatsapp folder in your root folder, check under the Android > Media folder once.
  3. Once done, open the WhatsApp folder and click on Media.
  4. Here, select the WhatsApp images folder and delete the .nomedia file. If the need arises, delete the .nomedia folder from the sent and private folder as well.

3. Check Storage Permissions for WhatsApp

One of the reasons for WhatsApp images not showing in gallery could be a storage permission issue owing to which WhatsApp is unable to access the photos and videos. Let us fix this.

  1. Open the Settings menu on your Android device and navigate to the sections of the app.
    app management settings
  2. Here, from the list of installed apps, select WhatsApp.
    whatsapp permission setting
  3. Now, look for the permission option and click on it.
  4. Once done, enable the Storage permission from the list of permission options. If it is already enabled, try disabling and enabling it once again.

How to Fix Whatsapp Images Not Showing in Photos on iPhone

Do not worry if you are an iPhone user, as there are a couple of troubleshooting steps for iOS users to fix the annoying WhatsApp images not showing in the Photos app. Moreover, the process stays the same irrespective of your iOS version as long as it supports WhatsApp. With that out of the way, let us look at how you can fix WhatsApp images not showing in the Photos app on iPhone.

1. Grant Photos Permission to WhatsApp

WhatsApp does not save images in your iOS Photos app if access to all photos permission is not granted. To fix this, check out the following steps.

  1. Launch the Settings app on your iOS device and scroll down till you find WhatsApp.
    whatsapp ios settings
  2. Select WhatsApp and choose the Photos option.
    whatsapp photo permissions
  3. Now, click on it and enable Access to all photos and restart your iOS device.
    whatsapp photo access ios
  4. Once that is done, it should now show WhatsApp photos in the gallery comfortably.

2. Enable Save Photos to Gallery option

The following troubleshooting setting to fix WhatsApp images not showing in the gallery is to enable the save photos to gallery option from the WhatsApp settings. If that setting is disabled, no photos or videos will get saved in the gallery.

  1. Open the WhatsApp app on your iOS device and click on the settings icon.
  2. Here, select the Chats option.
    whatsapp chat settings
  3. Now, simply enable the Save to Camera Roll option and you are good to go. After enabling the setting, WhatsApp media should now be visible in your iPhone’s gallery.
    ios save to camera roll

WhatsApp Media Still Not Showing in Gallery? Do this!

Despite trying all the troubleshooting steps, if WhatsApp media is not showing in the gallery, your last resort is to try uninstalling and reinstalling WhatsApp. However, if even that does not work, you might need to reset your device to fix the issue.

Related Read: How to Fix WhatsApp Camera Not Working on Android

Fix WhatsApp Images Not Showing in Gallery Comfortably

Using the troubleshooting steps we share above, you can quickly fix WhatsApp images not showing in the gallery issue once and for all with ease.

Let us know in the comments below if you found this article helpful and successfully fixed WhatsApp media not showing in Gallery issue.

FAQs on WhatsApp Media Not Showing in Gallery/Photos App

By default, WhatsApp backups all the images and messages to Google Drive on your Android device, but you need to enable the option for videos manually. Let us have a look.

  1. Launch the WhatsApp app on your Android device and click on the three-dot menu in the upper right corner of the screen.
  2. Now, select settings from the drop-down list and navigate to the Chats section.
  3. Here, click on the Chat Backup option and turn on the Include Videos option.
  4. Boom, it will not also backup WhatsApp videos alongside images and texts.

Follow these steps to easily download WhatsApp images without opening the chat:

  • Turn on Airplane Mode and Read Messages
  • Open WhatsApp and Disable Media Auto-Download
  • Go to the chat containing the media you want to download
  • Press and hold on an image until it zooms in.
  • Tap the Share button in the bottom-left corner of the image.
  • Select Save Image from the list of options that appears.

Sadly, you cannot recover the deleted files unless and until you have a backup of the WhatsApp media. That said, you can always request the recipient to forward those images back to you. Not ideal, but worth trying.

In order to stop saving WhatsApp media, be it images, videos, or audio, in your Gallery/Photos app, you need to follow these steps:

  1. Open WhatsApp.
  2. Tap More options > Settings > Chats .
  3. Turn off Media visibility.

If you are on Android, follow these steps to delete WhatsApp pictures and videos from Gallery:

  1. On the CHATS tab, tap Search.
  2. Tap Photos, Videos, or Documents.
  3. Tap the item you want to delete.
  4. Tap More > Delete.
  5. Tap DELETE.

We have previously covered a detailed guide on how to get rid of WhatsApp spam. Make sure you read it.

Further Reading:

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