WhatsApp to Start Consuming Google Drive Storage This Year

Android users are going to notice a big change as WhatsApp backups will start consuming Google Drive storage. According to the company’s updated terms and conditions, it is bringing an end to unlimited WhatsApp backups on Google Drive.

However, Google or WhatsApp has not announced any specific date for the changes to take effect; but users on the app’s beta version are already noticing the change. It means their backups, which include chat history, images, videos, and any other data, will take space on your Google Drive.

According to Meta, the change will take place for all Android users during the first half of 2024 and users will receive a 30-day notification beforehand, displayed as a banner in the messaging app’s Chat backup settings.

A workaround to the saving up storage space on your Google Drive is to make text-only backups, which is going to exclude all media files. This policy makes WhatsApp backups on Android similar to iPhone, who have always relied on their iCloud storage.