Hot Take Tired of Google Drive storage limits? WhatsApp is building its own encrypted cloud

Parkinsond

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WhatsApp is reportedly working on a way to back up your chats in a place other than Google Drive or iCloud. Meta is now looking to host chat backups on its own servers where it will use end-to-end encryption to keep user data safe. It’s expected that there will be a free tier and a paid tier.

On the free tier, users are looking at getting 2GB of storage for their chat backups, while paid users will get 50GB of storage for $0.99 (it's unclear is this is per month or per year). In screenshots shared by WABetaInfo, users on Android will be given the choice of choosing a chat backup provider, either WhatsApp or Google. It reassures users that their data is safe, even from Meta.

 
First of all, that should have been a feature ever since WhatsApp began offering backup ability. That would prevent issues with switching from Android to iOS and vice versa.
Second, there should really be ability to export/import chats locally from one device to another, without the use of internet connection whatsoever.
And third, 2 GB in 2026 is ridiculous.