How to Save a Contact's Profile Photo to Your Phone in WhatsApp

Tap each step to follow along in order.

  1. Open the contact's profile

    Tap the contact's name at the top of your chat with them to open their profile screen.

  2. Tap the profile photo to view it full-size

    Tap the photo at the top of their profile to open it enlarged to its original resolution.

  3. Long-press the enlarged photo

    Press and hold the full-size photo until a menu with a save option appears.

  4. Select "Save"

    Tap the save option in the menu to add the photo to your phone's gallery.

  5. Why bother?

    This saves the profile photo in its original quality for your contacts app or to remember someone's current photo -- no screenshot cropping needed.

Different from changing your own profile picture

This guide is about saving someone else's photo to your device, not updating your own -- changing your own profile photo is a completely separate settings flow.

Privacy settings can hide this option

If the contact has restricted who can see or save their profile photo, the full-size view or save option may not appear at all -- this feature only works when their privacy settings permit viewing their photo.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the contact be notified if I save their profile photo?

No, viewing and saving a profile photo happens silently on your end -- the other person is not notified.

What if the save option does not appear when I long-press the photo?

This usually means the contact's privacy settings restrict who can view their profile photo at full size, in which case saving it is not possible.