WhatsApp users are being warned about a change coming to the hugely popular messaging service.
Around 1.5billion people use WhatsApp every month and more than 65bn messages are sent every day on the Facebook-owned chat app.
WhatsApp has a stronger user base than rivals such as Facebook Messenger (1.3bn users) and WeChat (1.03bn).
And those who use WhatsApp have been warned about a big change coming to the chat app.
From November 12 WhatsApp users will be required to update backups that haven’t been touched in a year or it will get permanently deleted.
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This blow has been softened as WhatsApp have struck a deal with Google to stop WhatsApp backups from counting towards Google Drive storage quotas.
However, WhatsApp users who are hoping backups are offered the same level of end-to-end encryption as messages in the chat app are in for a shock.
In a post online ZDNet reported that WhatsApp has been alerting users about the encryption of messages backed-up in Google Drive.
An official WhatsApp page has reminded users of the chat app that backups in Google Drive aren’t protected by end-to-end encryption.
WhatsApp said: “Media and messages you back up aren’t protected by WhatsApp end-to-end encryption while in Google Drive”.
This is not the first time that WhatsApp have said messages or media stored in backups aren’t encrypted.
But with the new November 12 deadline approaching it’s worth a reminder as it could spark privacy fears amongst those used to the chat app’s Fort Knox level of encryption.
Google is also advising WhatsApp users to manually back up content in the chat app before this date or risk losing precious files.
The tech giant explained “any WhatsApp backups that have not been updated in more than a year will automatically be removed from storage” once the transition takes place.
This means if users do not fully ensure all of their data, both past and present, is backed up to Google Drive before November 12 they could lose any photos, chat history, video and other media after such time.
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.”