Google has told lots of WhatsApp users that they will soon have to pay for storing their old chats, photos, and videos. Before, you could store those things for free, but now they will take up space in your Google Account storage if you use an Android phone.

When you make a Google Account, you get 15GB of free storage, but that’s not just for WhatsApp. It’s shared with other things like Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos. So if you have a lot of WhatsApp stuff, you might need to pay for more storage.

A Google community manager said in a blog post that this change will happen soon for Android users. Your WhatsApp backups will still work if you have enough space in your Google Account. But if you run out of space, you have to delete some things to make room for backups.

This change will start with some WhatsApp Beta users next month and then come to all Android users of WhatsApp in early 2024.

Most WhatsApp users around the world use it on Android phones. Out of about 3 billion users, about 73% use Android.

If you need more storage, you can choose different plans from Google. The cheapest one is $1.99 per month for 100GB of space. That should be enough for most WhatsApp users.

Google is making other changes too, like deleting inactive accounts after two years to improve security. But some people worry this might affect those who use accounts for young children or who manage accounts for deceased relatives.

Source: www.independent.co.uk