Majority of users would agree that unlimited backup storage is an ultimate bonus because it allows us to keep media and other files longer as if they are souvenirs from a special place - or someone.
If you are a WhatsApp user, you know the perks of the partnership between Google and WhatsApp years ago about unlimited Google Drive backup storage.
With this agreement, users are able to enjoy free and unlimited backup storage that hopefully would be a permanent feature.
Agreement Over?
There are no official words from both Google and WhatsApp yet, but numerous sources online say that the unlimited backup storage users currently enjoy will be over soon as WABetaInfo - a website that tracks features, updates, and news about WhatsApp - spotted a new feature on WhatsApp that allows us to manage our chats.
According to the WABetaInfo report, users "could be able to exclude certain message types from the backup in order to save space on Google Drive."
The report pertains to the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.21.21.7 that was released in October 2021.
As mentioned in the article, Google might stop offering unlimited storage for WhatsApp backups.
However, there is a high tendency that they will be switching to a limited plan of 2000MB or 2GB per user.
If you use WhatsApp regularly and often share big files, then this storage would be too small to cover for you.
It is worth noting, though, that this is still just a rumor, so there is no need to panic yet.
Meanwhile, this possibility would not be so surprising at all since backup storage for WhatsApp on iPhone has already made limited for users.
Unlike on Android, this privilege is not accessible to iPhone users since Apple counts WhatsApp backups as part of their iCloud storage allocation.
What's the Status?
WABetaInfo said the feature that they have noticed to be under development is "trying to introduce changes for backups."
After taking a look at the string of codes on the recent update, there will be notifications to inform users when Google Drive is almost full and if it has reached the given quota already.
When users back up their WhatsApp conversations, these alerts might be sent out.
If this happens to be true, then that only means it is only a matter of time before Google sets a limit on the storage we can use to back up our WhatsApp data.
Meanwhile, it is also more likely that Google will still offer free storage, but that would be a limited plan.
The adjustment is in contrast to the existing situation, in which Google Drive provides limitless capacity for WhatsApp backups.
For now, we could only wait until either Google or WhatsApp issues a statement about this. And, while waiting for confirmation, we should just enjoy the unlimited backups we have!
Related Article: How to (Guide) Backup and Restore WhatsApp Messages on Android Devices
