Now that 2024 has started, the deadline for free WhatsApp chat backups is getting closer by the day. As you all know, WhatsApp data will start counting in your Google Drive storage from early 2024 and people have got hints from the messaging app about the changes that will be coming in the next few months.
We managed to get the latest WhatsApp beta version on Android and we noticed the message now popping up in the chat backups section of WhatsApp settings. The new pop-up says, backups on WhatsApp will start using your Google Drive storage in the next few months. The beta users have already started seeing the message.
WhatsApp even has a storage review option which will tell users how much of the storage their WhatsApp data is already using. Having said that, WhatsApp doesn’t limit your options and suggests that in case you don’t want to back up your chats to Google account, you can transfer the chats between Android devices using WhatsApp Chat Transfer tool.
WhatsApp or Google haven’t given the reason for these changes but it is likely that the latter now feels that with the number of people using WhatsApp, free cloud storage is not feasible. However, it’s important to note that users can continue backing up their data without extra charges, as long as they have available storage within the 15GB of free cloud storage included with their Google Account or any additional purchased storage, such as through Google One.
Google has been pushing other users to sign up for its paid services, which allows them 100GB of cloud storage and other benefits. You have plans going up as high as 2TB but that is usually preferred by people who have extensive use for cloud storage. We’ll be keeping a close eye on when the changes come into effect and also help you review the storage settings of your WhatsApp account.
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