WhatsApp for Android backups will count towards Google Drive storage limit

WhatsApp backups for Android users will count towards Google Drive’s storage limit in a few months. This means some users will need to sign up for a Google One subscription for additional Drive storage to continue backing up.

Google Drive offers 15GB of free storage as standard, which so far does not include WhatsApp backups. This will happen from December onwards reports Google. This means that if that storage limit is reached, WhatsApp will no longer backup, so users will have to purchase additional storage or delete data.

This change will take effect in December for beta users. The new policy will apply to all WhatsApp Android users ‘from the beginning of next year’. WhatsApp says that this change will apply to all users in the first half of 2024 and that users will be informed thirty days in advance via a banner in the backup menu. Google and WhatsApp do not report why this policy is being changed. The change does not apply to backups via Google Workspace subscriptions or impact the Chat Transfer feature. Google One is available from 2 euros per month and offers 100GB of storage.