WhatsApp and Google have confirmed Upcoming changes to WhatsApp chat history backup on Android / Android Help that unlimited backups will soon be a thing of the past. Users with free Google accounts will have to allocate part of their 15 GB of Google Drive for backups — which are also spent on Gmail and Google Photos.
Users who do not have enough space for backups will still be able to transfer data to a new device: in the summer, WhatsApp introduced a new chat transfer mechanism that does not rely on Google Drive or a computer.
Users of the beta version of WhatsApp will lose access to unlimited storage in December, whereas in the stable version this change will be distributed gradually starting in January 2024.
It is noted that the new rules will not affect users with Google Workspace accounts designed according to corporate and educational programs (in other words, provided by a company, school or university).
