You may have noticed that more and more photos you receive via Messages are automatically added to your photo library. This is due to the ‘Shared with you’ feature, and you can turn it off.
The images are not actually physically stored in your photo library, but a shortcut is created. Not all photos have such a shortcut, only if you are in the photos or if you were present at that moment. The other photos can be viewed via ‘Shared with you’ in the ‘For you’ tab.
Disable automatic saving of photos
The only way to turn off automatic saving of your photos received via Messages is to turn off the entire ‘Shared with You’ feature for photos. You can do this by following the steps below.
- Open ‘Settings’ on your iPhone or iPad
- Navigate to ‘Messages’
- Tap ‘Shared with you’
- Turn off photos
On a Mac, you can turn this off by going to Messages app â–¸ Menu bar â–¸ Messages â–¸ Preferences â–¸ Shared with you. Then turn off Photos.
From that point on, photos you received in the Messages app will no longer be added to your photo library.
WhatsApp Photos in Camera Roll
Photos and videos you have received in WhatsApp are also automatically added to your photo library in this way. Fortunately, you can also disable this for WhatsApp photos. To do this, read the highlighted article below.