WhatsApp Backups to Soon Count Against Your Google Account Storage

Not that I’m familiar with WhatsApp, since I’ve never used the app, but I have news for those of you who do. WhatsApp backups will soon start to count against your Google Account storage limit in about a month.

Both Google and WhatsApp announced the news today, saying that in December 2023, you better make sure your Google Account has enough storage available for your backups. This is an Android-only thing it seems, because choosing Settings>Chats>Chat backup on WhatsApp points those backups towards your Google Account.

In December, beta users of WhatsApp will see a banner in the Chat Backup page with a warning about the change. Throughout the first half of 2024, this change will then “slowly” rollout to the rest of the Android users not on beta builds.

Of course, if you want to continue backing up WhatsApp to your Google Account, you certainly can. This is not a change that is removing anything, it just means you need to have storage room available. If you start to run short, you can always upgrade your Google One plan to include more than the free 15GB of storage that Google gives you.

Google Play Link: WhatsApp