At the end of 2023 Whatsapp had announced that by the second half of 2024 backing up chats to Google Drive would no longer be unlimited for Android users. Based on the new feature in question, by backing up WhatsApp chats on an Android device, i.e. the procedure that allows you to save chats so as not to lose their contents, this will be counted in the total that contributes to reaching the storage limit of your account Google (which in the free version includes only 15 GB of space).
What changes for Android users and when
For Android users the change is quite impactful, as the Backing up your WhatsApp chats can eat up several GB of space available in the free version of the Google account. If you exceed your storage limits, you would be forced to free up space to be able to start making new backups by “sipping” documents and files to save on Google Drive or by purchasing new storage space through a Google One subscription.
When will the change be implemented on WhatsApp for Android? In the official WhatsApp FAQ, we read:
This change will roll out to beta users starting in December 2023 and will slowly roll out to all WhatsApp Android users in the first half of 2024.
In other words, therefore, the novelty has already been activated in December 2023 for those who use the beta version of WhatsApp (the one that includes experimental features that are tested before their public release in the “stable” version of the messaging app). For all other users who use WhatsApp for Android, the news will be released gradually by July 31st.
How to know if you are already affected by the change
According to some reports, it seems that some accounts have already been affected by the change. To find out if this is your case, that's enough open the WhatsApp app for Android on your device, press the button ⋮ (top right) and then press on the items Settings > Chats > WhatsApp chat backup.
In the event that the change already affects your account, you will see this by the presence of a special banner which, according to what WhatsApp states, should appear 30 days before the change is implemented.
