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Your WhatsApp chat backups on Android won't be free anymore (www.androidauthority.com)
submitted 1 year ago by ijeff@lemdro.id to c/android@lemdro.id
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[-] derin@lemmy.beru.co 85 points 1 year 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.

[-] MudMan@kbin.social 15 points 1 year 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.

[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year 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.

[-] MudMan@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.

[-] ladfrombrad@lemdro.id 1 points 1 year 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.

[-] MudMan@kbin.social 5 points 1 year 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.

[-] ladfrombrad@lemdro.id 4 points 1 year 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.

[-] MudMan@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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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[-] HidingCat@kbin.social 2 points 1 year 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.

[-] SineNomineAnonymous@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

Rental agencies won't contact you on anything other than WhatsApp where I live (im serious, they won't, they have 45 other prospective renters who want the same place you do and they all have WhatsApp).

So it's a deeper issue than just a content one as I need a roof over my head.

[-] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 1 year ago

I also don't use Facebook apps :)

[-] kib48@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

google drive gives out 20? I only have 15

[-] MudMan@kbin.social 2 points 1 year 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.

[-] HidingCat@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Eh, I thought Google gave 15GB, not 20GB?

Also I just checked my own WhatsApp backup space, it's just shy of 500mb with videos. Good for me I guess! I really don't use WhatsApp that much compared to Telegram.

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[-] kratoz29@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year 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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[-] voracread@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year 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.

[-] nottheengineer@feddit.de 8 points 1 year 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.

[-] lowleveldata@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

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

[-] Magiccupcake@startrek.website 5 points 1 year 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

[-] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 year 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.

[-] Zeroxxx@lemmy.my.id 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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

[-] Zeroxxx@lemmy.my.id 2 points 1 year ago

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

[-] ransomwarelettuce@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year 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.

[-] aprnu@feddit.ch 22 points 1 year 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

[-] Mr_nutter_butter@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

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

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year 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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[-] redditReallySucks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 year 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.

[-] TheMadnessKing@lemdro.id 3 points 11 months ago

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

[-] Anti_Weeb_Penguin@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago

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

[-] Zeroxxx@lemmy.my.id 4 points 1 year ago

Narrator: no it will not, not anytime soon.

[-] fishcurry509@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year 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.

[-] TheMadnessKing@lemdro.id 5 points 11 months ago

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

[-] shiveyarbles@beehaw.org 4 points 11 months ago

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

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this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
165 points (96.1% liked)

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