Key Highlights
- Earlier WhatsApp chat history and media backups were kept separate from cloud storage linked to their Google accounts.
- This update will be made available to WhatsApp Beta users beginning next month in December.
Android users should now be worried since Google Account storage will soon be used for your WhatsApp chat history and media backups. Till now Android users’ WhatsApp chat history and media backups were kept separate from cloud storage linked to their Google accounts. The instant messaging app has officially confirmed the upcoming change in the WhatsApp backups.
Also Read: WhatsApp’s new feature allows one-on-one voice chats in large groups
Android users used to enjoy a separate cloud storage for images, videos, emails, and other things. But soon WhatsApp will start occupying more cloud storage space available on Google accounts. This update will be made available to WhatsApp Beta users beginning next month in December. It will gradually made available widely to all Android users of WhatsApp starting early next year.
The upcoming change was announced by Google through its Android support page. It says, “As an important heads up, WhatsApp backups on Android will soon start counting toward your Google Account cloud storage limit, similar to how WhatsApp backups are handled on other mobile platforms. This change will first start rolling out to WhatsApp Beta users starting in December 2023, then gradually to all WhatsApp users on Android starting early next year.”
It further added, “If you choose to enable WhatsApp backups on Android, personal Google Accounts come with 15GB of storage at no charge – 3X more than most mobile platforms – that’s shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.”
Notably, only 15GB of free cloud storage are included with every personal Google account but soon this much storage will not be enough to store all your smartphone data as a result of WhatsApp chat and media backups using up space on Google accounts.
According to Google, Android users will be able to take WhatsApp backups as long as they have available space within their Google Account storage. If your storage reaches its limit you will have to delete items that you do not need to make room for backups to resume backups. Users can also delete items directly from WhatsApp. However its you have a Google Workspace subscription through work or school, your storage quota is not impacted at this time.
According to WhatsApp, it will start notifying users 30 days before this change happens with a banner in WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat backup. Also one can still transfer your chats between Android devices using WhatsApp Chat Transfer if you don’t want to back up chats to your Google Account.
Note that deleting things from WhatsApp deletes them from your cloud storage, reducing storage used by your next WhatsApp backup. You also have the option to get more storage with Google One.
