How the Social Media Cleaner finds duplicate WhatsApp and Telegram files
The Social Media Cleaner in DeDup 1.5.3 looks for exact duplicate files inside WhatsApp and Telegram folders on your phone. It shows each set of identical files as a group, and you tick the copies to delete. The scan starts when you tap Start Scan.
Which apps and files
Two apps: WhatsApp and Telegram. DeDup asks Android's media database (MediaStore) for files with a size above zero whose path contains one of these folder names:
- WhatsApp's Media folder, including the one under the com.whatsapp folder.
- A Telegram folder, including the one under org.telegram.messenger.
Each file is labelled WhatsApp or Telegram from its path, and as an image, video, audio or document. The type comes from Android's own media type when there is one. If not, DeDup falls back to the file extension: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, webp and heic for images; mp4, mkv, avi, mov and 3gp for videos; mp3, ogg, aac, opus and m4a for audio. Everything else counts as a document.
Unlike the WhatsApp Cleaner, this one includes audio files and Telegram. It doesn't list statuses, large files or sent-versus-received files as separate sections.
How results are grouped
- DeDup lists the matching files, largest first. The screen shows "Found N files" while it works.
- To save time, it only hashes files that share a size with another file.
- It computes a SHA-256 checksum for those files. The screen shows "Computing Checksums" and a percentage.
- Files with the same checksum form a group. Only groups of two or more are shown.
Groups are built from the checksum alone, not by app. A WhatsApp file and a Telegram file with identical content can land in the same group. Files that look alike but differ by a single byte don't match.
The top of the results shows how many duplicate groups were found and a "Potential savings" figure. That figure counts every file in a group except the first.
What you see and pick
Each group card is titled "Group (N files)". Every file has a thumbnail, its name, its size and a checkbox. The first file in each group carries a KEEP label. Going by the code, that label marks whichever file came first in the group. It isn't chosen by date or quality, and you can still tick it.
The Auto Select button ticks every file except the first in each group. Nothing is ticked until you tap it or tick files yourself. A Delete bar appears once at least one file is ticked.
How deletion works
Tapping Delete calls Android's ContentResolver delete on each ticked file. Guests see a "Sign in required" dialog instead, and nothing is deleted.
This screen's code doesn't build the system delete request that the photo and video scanners use, and it shows no confirmation of its own. It doesn't move anything to DeDup's Trash. DeDup has a Trash screen, but in 1.5.3 nothing in the scanners sends files there. The delete is permanent.
Only files Android reports as removed leave the results. If Android refuses one, it stays in its group.
What it can't see
Other messaging apps, folders outside those name patterns, and files Android's media index doesn't list.
Scope of this post
Checked against: DeDup 1.5.3 source code (Android).
Not tested on a device: whether Android allows DeDup to delete files that WhatsApp or Telegram created, on any Android version. Also not tested: which of these folders the media index returns on your Android version.