Written By Shweta Ganjoo
WhatsApp backups on Android will soon use your Google Account storage space
WhatsApp and Google have announced major changes for WhatsApp chat backups on Android. Here's how these changes will affect your usage.
Published By: Shweta Ganjoo | Published: Nov 15, 2023, 06:43 PM (IST)
Highlights
- WhatsApp and Google have made an announcement.
- WhatsApp backups will counts as a part of Google Account storage space.
- This change will come into effect in early 2024.
WhatsApp chat backups for Android users have been free for the longest time. But that is about to change as WhatsApp and Google have announced changes to how WhatsApp chat backups get stored in a Google Account. The two companies have announced that soon WhatsApp backups on Android will soon start counting towards a user’s Google Account cloud storage limit. 
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As of now, WhatsApp backups are not counted as a part of a user’s Google Account cloud storage limit. This means that an Android user can store a fresh backup of their WhatsApp chat history even if they have run out of free cloud-based storage space in their Google Account. But this is about to change. “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,” Google wrote in an update on its Android community page. Also Read: Apple iPad Pro Launched In India With New M5 Chip, Ultra Retina XDR Display: Price, Specs
“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…WhatsApp backups on Android will continue to work, as long as you have available space within your Google Account storage,” the company added.
Simply put, WhatsApp’s Android users will be able to store WhatsApp chat backup on their Google Accounts as long as they have space. And if they do run out space, Google recommends using its storage management tools for clearing up adding storage space from Google Account. Alternatively, users can also delete media files directly from WhatsApp to reduce the size of their WhatsApp chat backup.
When will this change come into effect?
Both WhatsApp and Google say that they will start rolling out this change to WhatsApp’s Beta users starting December 2023. After successfully testing it with a small batch of people, it will roll this change out to all WhatsApp users on Android in the first half of 2024. Also Read: Apple Launches 14-inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip And Up To 24-Hour Battery Life: Check Price And Availability
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WhatsApp says that it will inform users 30 days before this change comes into effect via a banner within the app. This banner can be accessed here: Settings > Chats > Chat backup.
