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Your WhatsApp chat backups on Android won't be free anymore (www.androidauthority.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[-] [email protected] 87 points 9 months ago

I mean, makes sense to me. You're storing your data on someone else's servers, makes sense that it would count towards your storage quota on said servers.

Having said that, it's really shitty that they've removed local backups (and that they don't allow other third party services beyond Google Drive and Apple iCloud).

Another reason to not use WhatsApp (or to use another backup solution), I guess.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago

Well, that depends on context. Let's say it makes less sense if you built your entire userbase on the back of handing off free storage for decades only to reverse course later after you've amassed a captive userbase in the literal billions of people.

But hey, I'm not gonna relitigate enshittification now. We all know.

FWIW, my current Whatsapp backup is 4GB, 1.5 without video backup. Google Drive gives out 20 for free, but they already made the same move regarding Gmail storage, so most of that is full. I have a paid account, but it's a work account and my personal chat logs do not belong there. Not using whatsapp is not an option. Just this week my vet sent me text messages over it. They didn't ask if I use it, they just assumed it because, again, captive audience in the billions. Whatsapp is just how texting works here.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Many people where I am also use WhatsApp. I don't, because I don't use Facebook apps. It hasn't caused me many issues, and in the few cases where someone won't switch to Telegram or contact me on another platform, I accept that same as I accept that when using Lemmy I won't get the same content I would on Reddit.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I didn't say many.

I said everybody.

I don't think I know a single person that texts over anything but Whatsapp. Businesses will reach out that way if they have your number. The government, too, sometimes. Every single person I know defaults to it and nothing else. My parents do. All my friends do. I may be able to convince a few of those to swap, but there is no way I'm convincing all of them. Again, "swap" here includes SMS texting. I'm saying this applies to all communications over phone that aren't direct phone calls. Scratch that, actually, most of these people also default to Whatsapp for voice calls.

The one exception is that some of my foreign friends do use a different app. They use Facebook Messenger.

You can use Whatsapp and something else. You can't get rid of Whatsapp.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

You can't get rid of Whatsapp.

Very true, but you can also never ever give them your number and then get funny looks from friends, colleagues, and pretty much everyone in the UK.

I for one am proud of getting those funny looks.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Well, some of us need our phones for work, so...

...also not an option.

Kinda need people to be able to reach me. You know, for continuing to survive and stuff.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

It is an option, believe me, you're just doing what your employer tells you to.

But they can't force you to use WhatsApp unless you signed a contract of employment stating so? And if you did that the onus falls on you.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

My employer is me.

I'm doing what my clients tell me, because it's generally considered to be a good business practice to not argue with one's clients unless you have a good reason to do so.

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[-] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Have to use WhatsApp to function in society though, where I am. At least, those messages aren't really that important in the long run so they don't need to be backed up, so no loss there for me.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I also don't use Facebook apps :)

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

google drive gives out 20? I only have 15

[-] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Maybe I got grandfathered in? I don't know, at some point obscuring their own rules became part of the dumb playbook of all these tech corpos.

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Having said that, it's really shitty that they've removed local backups

Every day I love Swiftbackup more, indeed I have been using this solution even for WhatsApp.

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

When did they remove local backups? Or is it removed for someone who has opted for Google Drive backup?

I never chose cloud option, so I have my local backup. Android by the way.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

You're storing unencrypted data on google drive with those backups, so they scan all of your chats. Whether they just look for malware/CSAM or people manually look through your chats is something you'll never know.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]

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[-] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

WhatsApp supports encrypted backups: https://faq.whatsapp.com/1246476872801203/

[-] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

I mourn for the poor worker who needs to look through all my dick pics

[-] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

But it's text, an entire persons message history can be stored very cheaply.

A million words is only 2MB.

Most people are expexted to text less than 10 millions words in a lifetime.

An entire persons lifetime message history is only 20MB, that's trivial to store.

If they want to charge to save media, thats fine, but text backups should be free

[-] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Does it have an option to back up only text, without images and other media?

I don't use WhatsApp, but my Signal backup is several gigs because of images and videos.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

In WhatsApp it is possible to back up only text and images, without video. Not modular enough though

[-] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I've just checked. In the UK at least, you can choose to exclude videos from the backup, but not images.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

WhatsApp bundles them together, that is the problem. Google does not know how to differentiate it.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Signal

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[-] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago

Yeah whatsapp sucks, but I am tired of trying to convincing my family to switch.

Supposedly because of the EU, they are working on interoperability with other apps.

Just waiting to delete that spyware app.

[-] [email protected] 22 points 9 months ago

Hopefully they will make it costly enough so that the people will stop using it and as a result choke MetaZucc's AI data training and research

[-] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

We can hope but it's the standard nearly everywhere no one will leave esaily

[-] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Hopefully they will make it costly enough so that the people will stop using it and as a result choke MetaZucc’s AI data training and research

Who do you think "they" is? It's not like Google would offer free storage for anything but maybe its own service anyway.

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[-] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago

Never saw auch a clickbait title.

the backups will count towards your 15gb free quota

Most people do not have a full google drive. This only includes a small portion of the whatsapp users who use google backups.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I have seen people having WhatsApp Backup of upwards of 5-8 GB

[-] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

There's also an option to transfer your chats to another device without backing up to Google drive, but it obviously works only as a transfer tool not as a backup.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

Hope that sh*t goes bankrupt once and for all.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Narrator: no it will not, not anytime soon.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

High time WhatsApp allowed backup to other cloud solutions like Dropbox/OndeDrive/others

[-] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Nothing Is for sale, everything is cloud based subscription, dlc's, and micro transactions. And you're also the product.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

WhatsApp chat backups on Google Drive will no longer be free and will contribute to your Google account storage usage.The new policy is already in effect for WhatsApp beta users and will be rolled out to regular users in the near future. WhatsApp backups will count against your Google account storage limit, which includes the free 15 GB of storage provided with every Google account. Users will receive a WhatsApp notification or email from Google approximately one month before their backup situation changes. To continue backing up your GB WhatsApp Download chats, you may need to free up space in your Google account by deleting unnecessary files or consider upgrading your storage through a Google One subscription.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Local chat backups on signal are soo convenient and to the point.

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this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023

165 points (96.1% liked)

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