WhatsApp's free storage on Google Drive will end soon, know alternatives and what you can do

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world and every day billions of people connect through this app. WhatsApp has announced a major change with the New Year. The deadline for the free backups of WhatsApp chats will soon come to an end. 

The company that powers Android, Google, has long offered users the ease of storing up their WhatsApp conversations on Google Drive without using up their valuable 15GB of free data allotment. But this year, that's about to change.

It was previously stated that these WhatsApp chat backups will begin adding to users' Google Drive storage restrictions in the first part of this year, which will affect those who are dependent on the free 15GB allowance. 

Due to this change, users who have been depending on Google Drive to protect their priceless chats and memories will now need to think about spending more money on more storage through Google One for WhatsApp.

This strategic move harmonizes Android procedures with the storage constraints that are already part of the iPhone's iCloud. There are three primary subscription levels available for Google Drive under the name Google One, which can be purchased monthly or annually. 

Now, Basic (100GB) costs £1.59 / $1.99 per month, Standard (200GB) costs £2.49 / $2.99, and Premium (2TB) costs £7.99 / $9.99 per month. The Basic (100GB) plan costs £15.99 / $19.99, the Standard (200GB) plan costs £24.99 / $29.99, and the Premium (2TB) plan costs £79.99 / $99.99 for those who choose to commit to a yearly commitment. Prices for India have not yet been disclosed.

What is the alternative to managing storage on WhatsApp without paying?
If you're not interested in signing up for Google One, there are other ways to make good use of your storage. You may open WhatsApp, go to Settings, then Storage and Data, and finally choose Manage Storage because photos take up more space. In this section, WhatsApp will offer multiple techniques to efficiently minimize storage utilization, guaranteeing you maximize their complimentary 15GB allotment without incurring extra expenses.

Users may even check how much storage their WhatsApp data is currently utilizing by using the storage review option included in the app. Nevertheless, WhatsApp doesn't restrict your choices and advises utilizing the WhatsApp Chat Transfer tool to move conversations across Android devices if you don't want to backup your talks to a Google account.

Google and WhatsApp have not disclosed the reasons for these modifications, although it is likely that the latter now believes that offering free cloud storage is impractical given the volume of users on WhatsApp. 

It's crucial to remember, though, that users can keep backing up their data for free as long as they have space left over from their Google Account's 15GB of free cloud storage or any additional storage they may have purchased, like Google One.