Android users of WhatsApp have so far enjoyed unlimited space when it comes to chat backup on Google Drive. But that may soon change as Google is reportedly planning to put a cap on the storage space that it provides for chat backs on Google Drive.
For iOS users, WhatsApp chats are backed up to iCloud, which offers a limited 5GB of free storage space. Google Drive, on the other hand, where WhatsApp’s Android app users’ chat backups are stored, has so far offered users unlimited storage space. This means that their WhatsApp chat backup is not counted in their free Google Drive storage space, which is 15GB for all Google account holders.
Now, WABetaInfo reports that Google Drive may impose a limit on free storage space for Android users to store their WhatsApp chat backups. The blog site found strings in WhatsApp’s code saying ‘Google Drive is changing backups’. The screenshot shared by the blog site also shows that WhatsApp will alert users when their chat backup space is full or when the limit is approaching.
There is no word on how much storage space Google will offer WhatsApp users to backup their chats. The details regarding the timeline for the implementation of this change are also unknown.
That said, it should come as no surprise that Google is planning to put a cap on the unlimited storage space it offered for WhatsApp chat backup on Google Drive. Last year, the company implemented a similar change for Google Photos.
Additionally, this change explains another feature that is being built on WhatsApp. In October last year the blog site reported that the Meta-owned messaging app was planning to offer its users a new set of controls for managing their chat backups. The new settings include separate toggle buttons for audio messages, video files, images and other files. In light of recent developments, these controls will help Android users of WhatsApp to manage their chat backups more efficiently.
WhatsApp may stop giving users unlimited space after Google Drive first appeared on BGR India.
