Google confirmed in November 2023 that the unlimited Google Drive WhatsApp chat backup would soon end for Android smartphone users.W This change means that WhatsApp chat backups will eventually count towards the existing 15GB free storage plan for Android users. However, neither Google nor WhatsApp confirmed any dates for when the changes would start taking place. Now, several Android users claim that the changes have already started rolling out to the beta version users of WhatsApp. The changes are expected to roll out for all users by the first half of 2024.
WhatsApp Stops Unlimited Google Drive Chat Backup
Android beta users confirm that the WhatsApp backup, which includes chats, images, and videos, now counts towards the available storage in Google Drive. Users will receive a notification 30 days before the implementation. The users who have exhausted their free Google Drive storage will be required to purchase additional storage space.
The other way to backup WhatsApp chats to Google Drive is by choosing to backup only chats, which doesn’t consume much data in comparison to the images and videos.
Users should noted that WhatsApp has introduced another way to backup and restore the chats to new smartphones without requiring Google Drive. The direct transfer feature will allow the users to transfer the chats to a new device through a Wi-Fi connection.
The old and new smartphones must be connected to the same network for transferring chats. Meta confirms that an active internet connection is not necessary to facilitate the transfer.
In related news, WhatsApp is working on the username feature for Android and web client users. Android and web client users will soon be able to set their usernames similarly to Telegram, which avoids the need for sharing numbers to start messaging each other. The Meta-owned giant has planned to introduce usernames to increase the privacy of WhatsApp users.
WhatsApp also recently introduced the option to pin messages, similar to notifying group members. It also added the ‘view once’ voice messages feature, in addition to the view once photos and videos introduced in 2021.
