Until now, WhatsApp has been collecting backups of all our data, including conversation history and sent and received photos and videos in the cloud. Specifically, it was the cloud from Google, i.e. the popular Google Drive. Now it may turn out that you will have to pay for keeping a backup copy.
No more free backup. You will need to purchase additional gigabytes
According to technological information, from December this year users – initially of the Android beta application – will have to keep an eye on their free space on Drive. WhatApp backup data will start to count towards the overall data limit we store in the Google cloud. Regardless of whether we use the account for free or pay for additional gigabytes.
For over five years, Meta (the owner of WhatsApp) had been under an agreement with Google, under which the messenger users could use the backup on Drive without reducing their data limit. By default, Google gives each user 15 GB free of charge. This limit also includes data saved by Gmail and other services that are part of the same Google account. Therefore, you may quickly run out of data space in the basic package.
Google, of course, allows you to increase your storage limit, but it costs money. In Poland, 100 GB costs PLN 8.99 per month, 200 GB costs PLN 13.99, and the largest package of 2 TB costs PLN 46.99 per month (sometimes there are price reductions).
There is a way to avoid fees
WhatsApp announced that the change will come to all messenger users in the first half of 2024. Everyone is to be notified about this fact through the application 30 days in advance. Fortunately, there is a good way to avoid fees. WhatsApp allows you to use the Chat Transfer function and conveniently transfer data from the internal memory of one phone to another. An alternative option is to keep an eye on the free space on Google Drive and regularly clear the backup, but in this case it is a big compromise.
As The Verge reminds us, collecting a WhatsApp backup for iPhone applications also reduces the data space limit. However, the free option from Apple is much smaller and is only 5 GB.
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
