WhatsApp has been offering to backup all your conversations, photos, and videos to Google Drive for a while now. It used to take up some space on the cloud, but today all users received emails saying the backup package will not count towards your available quota of storage.

Google sent out the message, stating the change is due to a new agreement with WhatsApp. The transition is starting today but might take some time to come into effect for everyone. The policy will be available to all by November 12.

Not all backups will be stored, though. Google said any packages that are more than a year old will be automatically removed, meaning if you have a backup but haven’t restored it, it will get deleted. To avoid any loss of data, you should do it manually via the app settings and going to Chats from where you can control what and when is saved remotely.

This helps Android users to use the available Google Drive space to store important files and data other than the regular WhatsApp data. While there isn’t any restriction on the Google Drive front, to back up your WhatsApp data, you still need to fulfil the minimum requirements that include a Google account activated on your phone along with Google Play services. The handset also needs to have enough free space to create the Google Drive backup. Notably, apart from updating its FAQ page, WhatsApp has started sending emails to users to inform them about the fresh change.

If in case you haven’t updated your WhatsApp backup in more than one year, Google Drive will automatically remove the dated backup. Therefore, it is recommended to manually back up the date before November 12. To create a Google Drive backup, tap the three-dot menu from the top-right corner of your WhatsApp screen and then go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup. Now tap the Back upbutton. You can select a backup frequency to let WhatsApp automatically back up your chats by tapping the Back up to Google Drive option. If this is the first time you’re backing up your WhatsApp data, you also need to select a Google account by tapping the Account option. It is recommended to back up the data over Wi-Fi only, although you can tap the Back up over option to choose the Wi-Fi or cellularoption to get your WhatsApp backups stored on Google Drive either using the connected Wi-Fi network or your data quota.