WHATSAPP users on Android have been warned that a new charge is due to kick into action at some point this month.
Millions have long enjoyed the ability to back-up their chats at no cost.
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But that all starts to come to an end this December.
It means users will have to pay for Google Drive storage if they want to keep their conversations on WhatsApp backed up should something go wrong.
Unsurprisingly, the announcement didn’t go down well when it was revealed last month.
“”See you WhatsApp…. hello telegram,” people threatened on social media.
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For now, only beta testers are affected by the move.
Then it will “slowly roll out” to all users in the first half of 2024.
The changes bring Android in line with iPhone‘s iCloud which is already limited.
All Google accounts receive 15GB of free cloud storage, though many use this up on their emails and other important files over the years.
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Your WhatsApp backups will eat into this allowance before requiring you to pay to store chats.
How to avoid paying for Google Drive storage
You can avoid paying for extra Google Drive storage if you’re savvy.
The first thing to do is have a good clear out of your chats.
Things like video and photos take up loads of space, so it might be time to delete some – especially those memes you don’t look at anymore.
To do this, open WhatsApp and tap Settings.
Go to Storage and Data.
Then select Manage Storage.
Here, WhatsApp will show you a number of ways to reduce storage.
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It’ll show you bulky files that are larger than 5MB, as well as content that’s been forwarded many times.
You can even see which chats are taking up the most amount of space.
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