Google no longer wishes to give away the storage of all of your WhatsApp communications. What choices do you have now?
It was free to back up your WhatsApp conversations to your Google account up until this point. Nevertheless, these backups will soon begin to deduct from your allotted Google Drive storage space.
You are the one who will be most impacted if you use WhatsApp frequently. You shouldn’t worry; we’ll guide you through this transition and offer immediate solutions to preserve your WhatsApp conversations.
WhatsApp Backups Will Now Count Toward Your Google Account Storage
On November 14, 2023, a Google Support page disclosed that “WhatsApp backups on Android will soon start counting towards your Google Account cloud storage limit, similar to how WhatsApp backups are handled on other mobile platforms.”
Beginning in December 2023, this update will be available to WhatsApp Beta users. By early 2024, it will be available to all Android users of WhatsApp. Thus, you still have some time to save a free backup of your WhatsApp conversations to Google Drive.
15GB of free storage is included with every Google account, and it may be used for Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. You’ve probably already used some of that free storage if you frequently back up data on your phone or if you have automatic backup turned on.
Open the Google Drive app on your phone, press the three-line menu, and see how much storage space is remaining. We advise you to apply the following guidelines to take urgent corrective action if you have used up more than 75% of the available storage.
What Can You Do to Save Your WhatsApp Chats?
You have two options if you want to keep your WhatsApp conversations. Make use of the following fixes:
1. Back Up Your WhatsApp Chats Before the Deadline
You should back up your WhatsApp communications as soon as possible because there is still some time until the change is implemented for all users of the messaging app.
To accomplish this, launch WhatsApp, select Settings > Chats > Chat backup from the three-dot menu. Select Google Account and log in if WhatsApp isn’t already linked to your Google account. After connecting, select Back up and bide your time for the procedure to be finished.
2. Exclude Videos in Your WhatsApp Backups
Videos use a lot more space than text and photos put together. Thus, you can turn off Include videos in Chat backup from the menu in order to prevent your Google Drive storage from getting full after the deadline. If there are any videos that are significant to you, think about downloading them straight to your device rather than storing a cloud backup of them.
3. Free Up Storage on Your Google Account
It’s time to remove some items if there isn’t much storage left in your Google account. You should start with Google Photos as they probably take up the majority of the storage space in your Google Drive. Launch the Google Photos application, select Account storage by tapping on your profile image.
Your images and videos will be sorted into sections such as Large images & videos, Blurry images, and Screenshots here. Additionally, you will be able to view the amount of storage used by each category. Examine each one, then remove any files that you no longer find important.
Back Up Your WhatsApp Before It’s Too Late
You should instantly back up your WhatsApp conversations if you haven’t previously. Since Google hasn’t stated when this update will take effect for all WhatsApp users, it’s advisable to take precautionary measures to save your conversations.
WhatsApp chat backups will begin to count towards your 15GB of free Google Account storage after the deadline. We advise you to create backups just once a month and to exclude videos from them to ensure you don’t exhaust it.