WhatsApp To End Free Google Drive Storage Soon (Photo by Dima Solomin on Unsplash)

WhatsApp, the popular messaging platform, is all set to end the unlimited Google Drive backup. Thus, the WhatsApp data will eventually count towards the existing 15GB free storage plan for Android users. Currently, users will be able to back up their chat data to Google servers without using up their 15GB of free data allotment.

Earlier in November, Google announced that it would end unlimited WhatsApp backups for Android users. “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,” wrote the tech giant in a post in November. On that occasion, Google also informed that the change will first start rolling out to WhatsApp Beta users starting in December 2023 and added that it will be applicable to WhatsApp users on Android starting in 2024.

With this change, WhatsApp users who have been depending on Google Drive to safeguard their conversations will now need to consider getting additional storage through Google One. Notably, Google One is a subscription plan that provides users with more storage to use across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. This subscription offers three main plans on a monthly or annual basis.

Meta will notify users 30 days in advance before implementing the new changes. Google or WhatsApp have not revealed the reasons for these changes. The latest modifications will only affect Android users, as the platform does not offer free storage on iOS. Meanwhile, WhatsApp backups will continue to work on Android, as long as users have available space within their Google Account storage. If users hit the storage limit, then they are required to free up space to resume backups by removing items.