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WhatsApp will soon delete old messages, photos and videos from its backups unless they are properly protected.
The removal comes as part of a deal that is being offered as a benefit to users: Google will allow people to back up their chats into its servers for free, meaning that messages will be protected.
But it has a catch because any old chats that haven't been properly protected will be removed from backups at the same time.
Show all 12 1 /1212 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed 12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Unsend messages You can unsend a message by tapping and holding it, hitting the Delete symbol and selecting Delete for Everyone. The feature works for all types of messages, but only if they were sent less than seven minutes ago.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Dodge the blue ticks WhatsApp’s blue ticks show when sent messages have been read, but you can disable them buy going to Settings > Account > Privacy > Read Receipts. However, bear in mind that, by doing so, you’ll lose the ability to see when your own sent messages have been read. Another, more fiddly way of reading your messages without triggering the blue ticks, is enabling Aeroplane Mode before opening your messages - just remember to close the app before switching Aeroplane Mode off again.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Hide your 'last seen' time Prevent your friends from finding out when you were last online by hiding your last seen time. Go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen. As is the case with disabling read receipts, hiding your ‘last seen’ time will also stop you from seeing anybody else’s.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Limit data usage You can control how much data you munch through on WhatsApp by limiting the types of media you automatically download on a mobile connection. Go to Settings > Data Usage and choose the best option for you.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Customise notifications If you’re expecting an important WhatsApp message from someone, set a custom notification for them by opening the chat, tapping their name at the top and hitting Custom Notifications.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Format your messages To jazz up any of your messages, simply highlight it by tapping and holding it, hit the More Options key on the pop-up menu and tap the formatting option you want - bold, italic, strikethrough or monospace.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Type hands-free You can get Siri or Google Assistant to type your WhatsApp messages out for you by saying either “Hey Siri” or “Okay Google”, followed by the name of the person you want to message and the actual contents of the message.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Mark chats as unread When you’ve read a message but can’t reply to it straight away, you can set a visual reminder by marking it as unread. On Android, long-press the conversation, and on iOS, swipe from left to right on a chat.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Email entire conversations You almost certainly won’t do this on a regular basis, but it’s a handy option to have. You can export entire conversations - complete with emoji and media attachments - by hitting More inside a chat a selecting Email Chat.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Mass-message contacts You can send the same message to lots of your contacts without lumping them all into one group, much like the BCC option on email, by hitting the New Broadcast option on the app’s main menu.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Pin conversations You pin up to three contacts and groups to the top of your WhatsApp conversation list by tapping and holding a chat, then hitting the pin icon.
12 useful WhatsApp features you didn’t know existed Make things easier to find You can easily mark key messages with a star, allowing you to find them easily when you need to. Just tap and hold a message and hit the star icon to save it, and return to it later by selecting Starred Messages in WhatsApp’s main menu.
If a WhatsApp backup hasn't been updated for the past year then it will be automatically removed as the messages are stored inside Google Drive. Chats that haven't already been properly saved into the cloud will not be part of that automated backup – and if you then rely on that same backup, the messages will have gone.
"Due to a new agreement between WhatsApp and Google, WhatsApp backups will no longer count against Google Drive storage quota," Google explained in an email to users.
"However, any WhatsApp backups that have not been updated in more than a year will automatically be removed from storage."
The change will go into effect on 12 November, and all the manual backups need to be done before then.
Luckily it is relatively easy to fix the problem – though not entirely obvious. Messages can be backed up by doing so manually.
That's done by heading into WhatsApp and press Menu. From there, click Settings and then click on Chats, where the backup option should be visible.
From those same settings, you can choose to make automatic backups. That will keep chats safe – and allow you to take advantage of Google's offer.
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