Android users on WhatsApp won’t have a free ride anymore when it comes to backups. The change comes after five years of Android users’ backups not counting toward Google Drive storage limits at all — something that was never true for iOS users.
Google and WhatsApp both announced that, starting for WhatsApp beta users in December, chat history, including images and videos, will again chew away at Google Drive storage, whether you have the company’s free 15GB plan or you pay for storage.
WhatsApp said the change will come to all of its Android users in the first half of 2024, and it will notify users 30 days ahead of time. The notification will be in the form of a banner in Settings > Chat > Chat backup.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.