WhatsApp has reportedly started to withdraw support for unlimited chat backups on Google Drive for its beta users utilizing Android devices. The messaging service will discontinue free cloud storage for these users, mirroring a similar situation faced by those using the app on iOS. Although this change initially impacts beta testers, it is anticipated that WhatsApp will extend this policy to all Android users in the near future.
According to a report from MySmartPrice, WhatsApp has begun notifying beta testers on Android about the changes through a banner in the app’s settings under Chats > Chat backup. This banner informs users that the new policy will take effect within 30 days. The rollout may be occurring in phases, as Gadgets 360 could not reproduce the notification on their updated beta version of WhatsApp.
In November, WhatsApp and Google announced plans to cease unlimited chat backups via Google Drive for Android users. It was noted that the change would be implemented for beta testers starting in December and would later affect all users within the first half of 2024.
Affected beta testers will receive a notification indicating that they have a month before their chat backups begin counting against their Google Drive storage limit. This policy update comes five years after WhatsApp and Google introduced the unlimited chat backup feature, which did not consume users’ Google Drive storage space. Google offers 15GB of free storage to all accounts, which surpasses the 5GB offered by competitors Apple and Microsoft.
This move is not the first instance of Google tightening access to free storage across its cloud services. In February 2022, the tech giant discontinued unlimited “original” photo backups for Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL users, three years post-launch of those devices. Additionally, the company announced in 2020 the end of free unlimited photo backups for all users, citing over a billion users with more than 4 trillion uploads and 28 billion uploads weekly at that time.
