WhatsApp backups will now count towards Google Drive storage; Know how it will affect you

WhatsApp has kicked off 2024 with a bold step, one which most Android users won’t be fond of. Starting this month, WhatsApp backups will count towards your Google Drive storage, meaning you will have to have enough space on your Google Drive. WhatsApp has been offering free Google Drive storage for WhatsApp backups on Android smartphones all this while, but the freebie looks to have run its course. And this doesn't spell good news, especially for those with chunky WhatsApp backups. Know all about this major change.

WhatsApp backups on Google Drive

Back in November, Meta Platforms announced that it would soon stop allowing free Google storage for WhatsApp backups. In a blog post, the platform said, “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.”

Meta said that the change would start reflecting in December, with a wider rollout in early 2024, and now we’re actually witnessing it. So, it seems that the time has finally come to kiss your free Google Drive storage goodbye!

What does it mean for users?

With this change, WhatsApp backups will now take up a part of the 15GB storage space that Google offers with its free account. If you wish to get more storage space, you'll have to subscribe to Google One, the company’s subscription service which offers up to 2TB of storage. It is important to note that this change only affects Android users as WhatsApp did not have any free storage space on iOS devices.

 If you’re on the stable version of WhatsApp, head over to the Google account storage and look under the ‘Other’ section. Here, you will find the storage space occupied by the WhatsApp backup. Interestingly, WhatsApp says will start notifying users of this change at least 30 days before via a banner. It can be reportedly seen by going into WhatsApp, then Chats, and then Chat Backups.

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