Phone CleanerWhy Telegram takes up so much storage
Every photo, video, file and voice message you open in Telegram is downloaded and kept on your iPhone, and with automatic downloads on, a lot arrives without being opened. Busy groups and channels add up fastest. That copy is a cache: Telegram keeps your chats and their media in its cloud, so the copy on the iPhone can be removed at any time.
Settings › General › iPhone Storage › Telegram shows how much it uses. Almost all of it is under Documents & Data, which is the cache, not the app.
How to clear Telegram cache on iPhone
- Open Telegram and tap Settings.
- Tap Data and Storage, then Storage Usage. Telegram shows how much space it uses on this iPhone, with a chart by type.
- Every type of media is selected: tap Clear Entire Cache to remove it all, or untick the types you want to keep and tap Clear Selected. Then confirm in the alert. On older versions, the button is called Clear Cache.
- To remove only the biggest items, open the Media, Files or Music tab on the same screen, select them and delete them from the cache.
Clear the cache of one chat
On iPhone, Telegram can clear cached files chat by chat. Storage Usage lists your chats, groups and channels by the space each one uses on the device. Tap one to clear only its media, which is the quickest way to deal with a busy group or channel without touching the rest.
Make Telegram clear its cache by itself
Storage Usage has auto-remove settings for cached media, set separately for Private Chats, Groups and Channels, with exceptions for chats you choose. Media you have not opened for that long is removed from the iPhone and comes back from the cloud when you open it.
The same screen has a maximum cache size. Set it low, and Telegram never uses more than that for its cache.
Stop Telegram downloading media automatically
- Open Telegram's Settings, then Data and Storage.
- Under automatic media download, open the setting for mobile data, then the one for Wi-Fi.
- Choose the Low preset, or set what downloads by chat type, media type and file size: turning it off for groups and channels saves the most.
Media you don't download automatically is still in the chat. Tap it and it downloads then.
Offloading or deleting the app
Offloading Telegram in iPhone Storage frees almost nothing: Offload App removes the app itself and keeps its Documents & Data, which is where the cache is. Deleting the app does remove the cache, but you then sign in again, and secret chats, which are never stored in Telegram's cloud, are lost with it. Clearing the cache inside Telegram is the safer way.
Copies left in your Photos library
Clearing Telegram's cache does not touch your Photos library. Photos and videos you saved from Telegram, or that it saved for you, stay there, often next to the same picture received in two chats.
No cleaner app can clear Telegram's cache: iOS keeps each app's files private. Telegram's own Storage Usage screen is the only way to clear it.
