It said that the change will be rolled out to users on WhatsApp beta starting next month then gradually to all other Android users early next year. — AFP
Google has announced that WhatsApp chat backups on Android devices will soon start counting toward users’ own Google account cloud storage limit.
The company said it provides 15GB of storage for free 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. If you hit your storage limit, you’ll need to free up space to resume backups by removing items you do not need,” the company said in its announcement.
The company also recommended that users try its storage management tools to remove large files or photos. It also said that users can delete items directly from WhatsApp to create more space in the online account storage.
It said that the change will be rolled out to users on WhatsApp Beta starting next month then gradually to all other Android users early next year.
Google added that for those with a Google Workspace subscription through work or school, their “storage quota is not impacted at this time”.
WhatsApp on its help page said users will be notified 30 days before the change takes place with a banner in Chat Backup. To see how much space is WhatsApp consuming on their device, users can click Settings > Storage and data > Manage storage.
