WhatsApp users are being warned about a new update coming soon to the messaging service.
The service is used by 1.5bn people every month, with 65bn messages sent everyday on the Facebook-owned app.
But now the app is getting a huge change.
From November 12, users will have to update backups that haven’t been accessed in a year or they will be permanently deleted.
Whatsapp announced that a system update that could see all your chats, pictures, videos and audio files be deleted.
But the service has struck a deal with Google to soften the blow, as the WhatsApp backups will not count towards Google Drive storage.
But the bad news the messages you backup will not get the same end-to-end encryption as the messages in the app do.
ZDNet reported that WhatsApp has been alerting users about the encryption of messages backed-up in Google Drive.
WhatsApp said: “Media and messages you back up aren’t protected by WhatsApp end-to-end encryption while in Google Drive”.
It doesn’t necessarily mean your data it’s unprotected, but that Google will have the ability to access that data.
The move could spark more privacy concerns for those reliant on the encryption the message app normally provides.
It also means if users do not fully ensure all of their data is backed up to Google Drive before November 12 they could lose any photos, chat history, video and other media after that.
In a letter to an XDA Developers reporter, Google said: "Due to a new agreement between WhatsApp and Google, WhatsApp backups will no longer count against Google Drive storage quota.
"However, any WhatsApp backups that have not been updated in more than a year will automatically be removed from storage.
"This policy will come into effect for all users on November 12, 2018, although some users may see the quota benefits earlier.
"To avoid the loss of backups, we recommend that people back up WhatsApp before November 12, 2018."
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How to manually backup WhatsApp
Make sure you have Google Drive setup on your phone.
In WhatsApp go to Menu, Settings, Chats then Chat backup. Select Back Up and you will see everything getting backed up to Google Drive.
WhatsApp accounts will be set to only backup over Wi-Fi so you’ll have to be connected first.
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