Last year, Google removed the ability to store unlimited photos on its servers

Android users have long since enjoyed the unlimited storage space on Google Drive when it comes to saving their WhatsApp backups to the cloud, but this option may soon disappear as the company plans to introduce a paid option.

According to the report published in WABetaInfo, soon users will have to buy storage for their WhatsApp chat backups on Google drive as the option for unlimited storage will not be available for Android users.

WABetaInfo found that a feature was being introduced to exclude certain types of messages from the backup. This is a storage-saving feature, but it would not make sense when the space taken up by the backup does not count against your Drive quota. Looking into the strings, the outlet discovered that Google will still offer a certain quota to store WhatsApp backups for free, but it will be a limited plan, and information about the new storage plan is unknown right now.

It bears mentioning that WhatsApp has already planned to introduce a feature to help transfer your chat backup from iOS to Android and vice versa, which may affect the functionality of cloud backups.

The feature was first spotted in the latest WhatsApp beta version 22.2.74 for iOS, and appears to corroborate WABetaInfo’s previous discovery in beta version 2.21.20.11 for Android. Both updates point towards a feature that may let you transfer your WhatsApp chats from Android to iOS using the Move to iOS app.

Another beta feature set for release includes reactions through emojis, which have become common on most messaging apps, such as Facebook and Instagram, along with Apple’s own iMessage service. According to reports, WhatsApp would join its Meta-owned sister companies in offering this functionality.

It would allow a single reaction to a message, wherein users can select from one of six emojis. The emojis would be “Like,” “Love,” “Laugh,” “Suprised,” “Sad,” and “Thanks.”