WhatsApp to scrap unlimited chat storage: 4 things you can do

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WhatsApp will soon be asking users on Android devices to backup their chats using Google Drive.

Earlier, the social media messaging platform provided unlimited storage for chat backups on Android devices. Now, the application will be asking Android users to utilise their own storage space, just like iOS users.

This may be a point of concern for those who have lots of multimedia files in their chats, due to their large size. Here are some ways you can deal with the change:

1. Delete large files

Before you backup your data, ensure that you have deleted large files from your chats. These files may include photographs, videos and even documents.

You can review and delete these files easily by simply going to your WhatsApp settings and clicking on 'Storage and Data'. After which, you can click on 'Manage Storage where you will be able to find all files larger than 5MB.

2. Remove forwarded content

Several users have photographs and videos that may have been forwarded to them.

You can find files that have been forwarded multiple times by going to 'Manage Storage' (see above) and clicking on 'Forwarded Many Times'.

3. Disappearing messages

In order to avoid chats taking more space, you can turn on disappearing messages.

By switching this on in individual chats, they will automatically get deleted after a certain period of time.

4. Delete chats entirely

Aside from the other three things above, you can also find old chats (especially, group chats) and delete them entirely.

You can also go to your archived chats and delete those in order to free up some space.

According to a recent official article from Google, WhatsApp and Google will be removing the unlimited storage quota for WhatsApp backups, and WhatsApp has developed in-app alerts to notify users in advance.

It’s worth noting that a similar announcement was also posted in the official WhatsApp Help Center, clarifying the imminent change and its impact on Android users.

However, it’s important to mention that users will be able to keep backing up their data at no extra cost as long as they have available storage within the 15GB of the free cloud storage included with their Google Account or any additional storage they may have purchased, such as through Google One.

In case users hit their storage limit, they will have to free up space to resume backups by removing chats or media they do not need or they can purchase additional storage by subscribing to a Google One plan.

Currently, the most cost-effective plan is the Basic one, providing 100GB for $1.99 per month. Additionally, Google clarified that users with a Workspace subscription through work or school will not have their storage quota impacted at this time.