Technology
WhatsApp to end free Google Drive storage in 2024: Here’s how to manage your files – Crypto News
Meta-owned social media platform WhatsApp will now end the free Google Drive storage space provided to Android users for storing their chat history including images and videos. The new changes mean that WhatsApp data saved on the Google Drive will soon start counting towards the 15GB of storage space or the users will have the option to subscribing to Google One subscription.
Intimidating about the new changes in a post in November, Google wrote, “As an important heads up, WhatsApp backups on Android will soon start counting toward your Google Account cloud storage limit, similar to how WhatsApp backups are handled on other mobile platforms. This change will first start rolling out to WhatsApp Beta users starting in December 2023, then gradually to all WhatsApp users on Android starting early next year.”
WhatsApp had said that the new changes will start rolling out to all users in 2024 and the company will start notifying users 30 days in advance with a banner in WhatsApp Settings> Chats > Chat backup.
Our version of the WhatsApp Beta app has now started showing the message, “Backups will start using your Google storage in the next few months.”
How to manage your WhatsApp storage without taking Google One subscription?
While the obvious choice for WhatsApp users going above the 15GB storage threshold is to take a Google One subscription, the company is continuing to give its customers the ability to transfer these files between Android devices.
For instance, users who are not interested in saving their WhatsApp Chats on their Google account can simply use the WhatsApp Chat Transfer feature while moving to a new Android.
Notably, the current changes will only have a detrimental affect on Android users given that WhatsApp on iOS hasn’t been offering the free storage feature. Moreover, Apple only offers 5GB of free storage to its non-paying users compared to 15GB offered by Google.
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Published: 02 Jan 2024, 08:39 AM IST
