Google may put a stop to unlimited Drive storage for WhatsApp backups
When it comes to giving away free storage, Google has recently been stingy. In an attempt to persuade users to upgrade to Google One plans if their needs surpassed the 15GB supplied for free with every account, the firm ceased giving unlimited backups for Photos. It may now pursue even another gain. WhatsApp backups aren’t presently counted against your storage capacity in Google Drive, but if recently revealed information is any indication, Google may soon impose restrictions on how much of your data you can keep in the cloud for free.
Limitations on Drive Storage for WhatsApp
An in-development option appeared a few months ago that, if launched, would allow users to customize their backup size and choose which sections of their WhatsApp chat history they wanted to save to the cloud. It was suspected at the time that this was in advance of the withdrawal or at the very least a limitation, of Drive’s free storage for WhatsApp backups. It appears that our assumption was correct. While dissecting WhatsApp’s newest beta, WABetaInfo discovered some strange strings, and they’re not good news for those of you with large, thick backups.
Some of these strings show how the application will convey the news (“Google Drive backup changing”), as well as specific notifications that alert you when your free storage is about to run out (“Google Drive almost full”) and when you’ve surpassed your limit (“Google Drive maxed out”) (“Google Drive limit reached”). As previously said, this free tier may be capped at 2GB — these strings aren’t providing us any information on whether or not this is correct, so don’t take our word for it — after which you’ll be allowed to share SMS backups to Google Drive, but they’ll start counting against your storage allowance.
2GB is great if you don’t download a lot of material, but it quickly adds up if you start collecting photographs and movies downloaded over months and years. Start saving for that Google One plan, or save your backups on your computer.
