WhatsApp to stop offering 'unlimited storage' for backups soon

Renowned messaging app WhatsApp is planning to stop offering "unlimited storage" for chat backups in future.

The meta-owned app along with Google, will remove the unlimited quota option for WhatsApp backups and will notify its users in advance.

Currently available on the WhatsApp Business beta for Android 2.23.24.21 update, the two companies intend to roll out this change to beta testers soon, followed by everyone else next year, WaBetaInfo reported.

When implemented, this change will bring WhatsApp's backup feature at par with that of iOS with the users being able to continue backing up their data without any extra cost — on condition that they have storage space available within the 15GB limit of their Google account or any other additional storage subscription such as Google One plan.

The end of limitless capacity for WhatsApp backups on Android will definitely affect users who have benefited from the convenience of automated and unrestricted data backups over the years.

Users who reach the aforementioned storage space limit will have to free up some space to continue backing up their chats.

The end of limitless capacity for WhatsApp backups on Android will definitely affect users who have benefited from the convenience of automated and unrestricted data backups over the years.

The shift is expected to be noticed most strongly by individuals who rely extensively on multimedia messaging, resulting in greater backup file sizes.

It is to be noted that the meta-owned app has made several changes to the backup option — including reducing backup sizes — which will act as a mitigating factor allowing users to backup more data while conforming to the 15GB Google account limit.

What can you do to mitigate changes in the unlimited storage option?

Cleanup

Examine your future Google Drive backups by identifying any redundant or obsolete data in your current chat history. 

Clean up unnecessary files and ensure that only essential data is backed up.

Alter media auto-download settings

Make necessary changes to auto-download media settings to exert more control over what is stored in the backup as files which are auto-downloaded are backed up by default.

Let go of old chats

Delete old and unimportant conversations to reduce the space of the data that you want to store in the backup.

By allowing only essential chats to be backed up, users can significantly optimise their limited storage space.

Utlise disappearing messages option

You can enable disappearing messages in conversations where losing messages and media isn't a concern to automatically delete messages after a specified period.

By choosing to not save pointless conversations, this feature can minimise the size of backups and minimise the effects of modifications made to WhatsApp backup storage.