Trying to contact Meta Support is an absolute dead end. You have this dumb bot that just performs some primitive keyword search based on your query and spits out a bunch of help articles it thinks match your message. No integration with LLaMA whatsoever, let alone an actual human support team to get in touch with. So even vital issues like failed chat backups being kept forever and taking up more and more space, are still waiting for Meta's attention to be fixed someday — if at all — even if you somehow bear with the numerous accessibility-related and other problems that hinder app use. It's an intolerable shame for such a global giant! With the exception of Telegram — yet another example that allegedly offers enhanced VoiceOver support according to the company's own relevant statement but is mostly inaccessible — other apps maintained by companies with much smaller budgets including Signal and one app named BiP that is used mostly in Türkiye, offer a smoother and more accessible user experience in several aspects, even though they have their own problems and sometimes reintroduce them in a later update after fixing them in a previous one, which Meta is also famous for doing, not just in WhatsApp or on iOS but in other Meta products across other platforms as well. So I have to either delete WhatsApp completely and lose all my chats as well as the useless failed chat backups or go buy a new iPhone. WhatsApp is currently taking up over 34 GB on my old iPhone with 64 GB total disk space, much of which is already allocated to iOS itself and other stuff, merely because I just wanted to back up my chats to iCloud so that I could transfer them to the other iPhone, only to end up with over half of the total memory under WhatsApp occupation, quite similar to how the entire world is under Meta's domination just because the majority uses WhatsApp and you can't leave the groups even if you somehow manage to move your individual/private conversations to other apps.
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Another Issue
I'm now trying to transfer the chats locally by placing the iPhones near one another without backing them to iCloud, but the transfer was interrupted at 3% and I had to start over, or that's what I expected but the transfer just appeared to resume from where it left off, so all I can do is hope the chats are transferred properly.
Check your chat backup settings
I completely empathize with your frustration. It is a total scandal that a multi-billion dollar company like Meta relies on a primitive keyword-bot that feels more like a 1990s FAQ search than a modern support system. The fact that failed backups are bloating your storage to 34 GB—essentially holding your hardware hostage—is an intolerable failure of engineering.
While we wait for Meta to prioritize accessibility over their bottom line, here is a manual, step-by-step guide to reclaiming some of that "ghost data" on your 64 GB iPhone:
1. The Internal Storage Tool (More effective than iOS Settings) ::
Go to WhatsApp Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage. This tool ranks your chats by size. Focus on the "Larger than 5 MB" section. Deleting these files is the fastest way to shrink the app footprint without losing your actual text conversations.
2. Kill the "Double Storage" Bug ::
Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats and toggle Save to Photos to OFF. This prevents WhatsApp from saving media once in the app and once in your camera roll, which effectively doubles the storage used by every video you receive.
3. Clear the Backup Cache ::
Failed backups often leave behind massive temporary files. Go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and turn OFF "Include Videos." Attempt to run a manual backup with just text. If it succeeds, the app often clears the "temporary" upload cache that is likely contributing to that 34 GB bloat.
4. The "Offload" Technique ::
Go to iPhone Settings > General > iPhone Storage > WhatsApp. Tap "Offload App". This removes the application binary but keeps your documents and data safe. Reinstalling from the App Store can sometimes flush out corrupted "System" data that the app is holding onto.
It is a sad state of affairs when we have to consider buying new hardware just to survive an app’s poor optimization. The "Meta-domination" is real, but hopefully, these steps can help you clear enough space to at least regain control of your phone.
Stay strong in the fight!