Google will no longer back up photos and videos from Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram by default.
Previously the Google app created folders to store photos and videos from social media platforms.
Google said the changes are meant to save internet resources as “people are sharing more photos and videos” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The feature was said to use up bandwidth and take up a lot of memory on devices.
YouTube and Netflix made similar moves earlier this year to reduce internet traffic owing to more people using broadband at home due to the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The Android Police website reported the following affected websites: Facebook, Instagram, LINE, Helo, Messages, Messenger, Twitter, Viber, WhatsApp and Snapchat.
Read: Google To Auto-delete Location And Search Histories By Default For New Users
Photos and videos that were previously backed up will not be affected and you also have the option to turn the feature on if you wish.
How to back up specific photos and videos
- Open the Google photos app
- Click on Library and the “photos on device” and tap “view all”
- Choose the folder with the content you wish to back up.
- Select the videos and photos you wish to back up and click on “back up now”
Read Also: Google To Start Paying News Publishers For High Quality Stories
How to change the back-up setting for device folders
- Open the Google photos app
- Click on library, then “photos on device” and tap “view all”
- Tap the folder you want to back up
- At the top, click to enable back up and sync.
To disable WhatsApp photos and videos from saving to iPhone
- Open WhatsApp
- Click on “settings” and then “Chats”
- Click to disable the button “Save to Camera Roll”
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