Google has announced that it will no longer backup media from any chat apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter to Google Photos by default.
In previous years Google’s photo backup platform would automatically upload all your images and videos saved to your phone including files stored in folders created by apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. Google has turned off that feature, but that should not be a train smash as you can easily turn it back on.
“People are sharing more photos and videos because of COVID-19. To save Internet resources, backup and sync has been turned off for device folders created by messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and Kik. You can change this at any time in settings.” Reads a support page.
Any photos or videos that were already backed up and organised via social media apps will remain unaffected, and if you want to turn on the ‘back up & sync’ feature you can simply change your backup settings for the device folder by these easy steps:
- Open the Google Photos app
- At the bottom, tap Library 'Photos on device', tap View all.
- Tap the folder that you want to back up.
- At the top, turn on Backup and Sync.
A notification has already been rolled out on Google Photos app. A full list of affected apps has not been made available yet by Google. However, according to Android Police, the list of affected apps are Facebook, Helo, Instagram, LINE, Messages, Messenger, Snapchat, Twitter, Viber, and Whatsapp.
A few months ago streaming giants Netflix and YouTube also took the same route to help ease the internet congestion.