Google may soon make you pay for all those ‘Good Morning’ pictures on WhatsApp

WhatsApp’s chat backup feature is one of the instant messaging app’s best, especially on Android. This is because Android users could seamlessly backup WhatsApp chats and store the backup file on the cloud via Google Drive. This had their data safe for whenever they wanted to switch smartphones.

No matter how much data your WhatsApp backup required, the feature would work. However, this could be changing soon, and users with heavy media-sharing usage on WhatsApp may soon have to pay extra money to get it all backed up.

Why is this happening?

To be clear, this isn’t a decision on WhatsApp’s part, but rather Google’s. Until now, WhatsApp chat backup files, which usually are under the 10GB mark for most, did not count against your 15GB free Google account storage. Google is, however, changing that next month.

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Now, WhatsApp chat backups will count against your free Google Drive storage, which will also include your emails, Drive files, and Google Photos media. Depending on how much storage you use with other platforms like Gmail and Google Drive, you may need to purchase more Google Now storage to be able to fit in your WhatsApp chat backup as well.

To be fair, it was about time Google makes the change. Large WhatsApp chat backup files by millions of users on the platform accounted for a lot of storage that Google was giving users for free for years. All Google account holders already get 15GB free cloud storage, thrice as much as the free 5GB you get on iCloud if you use iPhones, which isn’t enough anyway for chat backups.

What can you do?

There are four ways in which you can tackle the new change.

Option 1: Do nothing

If your WhatsApp chat backup file is small enough, let’s say about 5GB, while all your Gmail and other Google apps use about another 7GB, your total Google storage still sits below 15GB, and you don’t really need to do anything post the change. You can continue to use WhatsApp chat backups as you have been using it, until your 15GB storage runs out.

Option 2: Clear WhatsApp media/Google storage

If you are someone who will face the storage crunch post December, you also have the option to reduce the size of your WhatsApp chat backup file by deleting unwanted photos, videos, audio and files. However, not everyone may want to do this, as it can mean having to delete (or take offline) precious media files.

Alternatively, you can also clear your free 15GB Google storage by deleting unwanted emails, media and files. If you manage to clear enough to fit in your WhatsApp backup, you’re good to go, at least for a while.

Option 3: Pay for more storage via Google One

The third way to get out of this fix is simply by paying for more storage via Google One. This means spending at least Rs 130 per month for the lowest plan which bumps up that tiny 15GB all the way to 100GB. That should be plenty for most users’ WhatsApp chat backups and other Google files and media.

Option 4: Opt out of WhatsApp chat backups

The simplest way out of this for some, will be to simply not use WhatsApp chat backups at all. This will cost you no money but will also mean you have no WhatsApp backup at all. So, if you lose your phone or want to switch to a new device, you may be starting from scratch.

When is this happening?

As per an announcement, the change will go live next month, when WhatsApp beta users on Android will start seeing the new implementation. For stable users, it could be a few more weeks of free chat backups after that at best.

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That should give you plenty of time to convince yourself of not using the chat backup feature or clear some storage. Even if you do the latter, you may eventually cross the 15GB limit with enough emails on Gmail or family pictures on WhatsApp.

Hence, if you can afford the pricing, the better solution is to opt for Google One’s 100GB storage plan, which will have you covered for years to come.