Starting December 2023, all your WhatsApp chat history backups will count towards your Google cloud storage quota. This policy change comes as a complete turnaround for anyone who’s been backing up WhatsApp chat data to Drive. Though the change in policy will impact Android users gradually over the course of the year, you should check and delete WhatsApp backups on Google Drive.
WhatsApp Beta users will be the first ones to feel the change starting this December. And unless you want to be pushed to purchase additional storage space, it’s best to delete your WhatsApp backups on Drive.
Find Delete WhatsApp backup on Google Drive
Here’s how to find and delete WhatsApp backups on Google Drive.
SHORT GUIDE
Open drive.google.com on your browser, click on Storage in the left panel, click on Backups on the right, and delete Whatsapp backup.
GIF GUIDE
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
- Open drive.google.com and log in to the Google account that you use to back up WhatsApp chat history.
- Click on Storage in the left panel.
- Click on Backups at the top right corner.
- Your WhatsApp backups are here. You can delete either the whole backup folder or delete backups selectively. Here’s how:
- Option 1: Delete the backup folder (and thus all the backups):
- Look for WhatsApp (phone number) backup and then click on it to select it.
- Now, click on the Trashcan icon to delete the WhatsApp backups.
- Click on Delete to confirm.
- Option 2: Delete the backup files selectively (keep those that are recent or important for you):
- Double-click the WhatsApp (phone number) backup to open it.
- Identify which backup files you want to keep to delete. Select the files that you want to delete.
- Now, click on the Trashcan icon to delete the selected WhatsApp backup files.
- Click on Delete to confirm.
Since Google offers 15GB of free cloud storage to all Google accounts, shared across Gmail, Drive, and Photos, it can quickly run out. If you don’t want that to happen, it’s best to delete your WhatsApp chat backups on Google Drive.
