Google has announced that WhatsApp backups on Android will start counting towards users’ Google Account cloud storage limit, with the change rolling out to WhatsApp Beta users in December 2023 and all Android users in early 2024.
Android smartphone users are poised to lose a major ‘WhatsApp advantage’ as Google and WhatsApp jointly announce a shift.
The change entails that WhatsApp chat and media backups on Android devices will now be included in users’ Google account cloud storage usage.
These backups did not take a toll on the users’ existing Google Drive storage. However, with the latest company policy changes in place the situation has changed.
Individuals who are currently using the default 15GB storage by Google Drive will now need to be careful about their storage.
WhatsApp wrote in its Help Center post that once a user exceeds the given storage limit, they will have to make space for new content to resume the backups.
If you’re wondering, if WhatsApp and Google will stop your backups suddenly one day, rest assured that won’t be the case.
WhatsApp says it will notify users 30 days in advance before taking your free Google Drive chat backups away so you’ll have ample time to make necessary changes.
