Android backups count toward your 15GB Google storage limit now - how to check your settings

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Google allocates 15GB of free cloud storage to every Google account, shared across the company's cloud-based services, including Gmail, Drive, Sheets, Docs, Slides, and more recently Gemini . You'll also notice some third parties lay claim to their share of this storage allocation, such as WhatsApp.

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Following a recent announcement, the search giant has altered its support documentation and is sending emails to all its customers informing them of new usage policies under which Android device settings will also count against the 15 GB. You can buy more storage with a Google One subscription plan , optimize cloud backups for efficiency, or use offline backups on external devices.

Here's what's changing and how you can make the most of it.

On your Android device, if you visit Settings > Accounts and backup > Google Backup > Other device data, you'll see toggles for individual data elements that are backed up to this shared cloud storage.

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Until this change came along, the toggles for your MMS data and media earmarked for backup in the Google Photos app were the only ones here. Other device settings didn't hog this storage pool.

The updated policies rolling out now include two new data categories for backups -- SMS, call history, and device settings under the Device data header, and your configuration for all installed apps under App data.

Each of these has a toggle, but they were all switched on by default for me. This step should make transferring your apps and settings over to new or secondary devices way easier, akin to how passkeys and biometrics have simplified authentication.

The current Android device setup flow already moves your apps, contacts, and essentials over. With the changed policies, you can hope that your app configuration settings are seamlessly restored on a new device. Importantly, third-party app data like WhatsApp cloud backups, which didn't count toward Google One storage before early 2024, now also fight for their piece of the 15GB free-tier pie.

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