Google Photos to no longer auto-backup media files from social media, chat apps
Google Photos to no longer auto-backup media files from social media, chat apps

Tech company Google has announced that it will no longer backup media from chat apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter to Google Photos.

According to Mashable, Google was testing this change earlier this month and has now rolled it out to all Google Photos users.

The company is only changing the default settings in Google Photos to ensure that it does not backup media content from messaging apps.

Earlier, Google Photos would back up all photos and videos saved on your smartphone by default.

It included the pictures shot through the device's camera as well as the ones saved from the internet and various messaging and social media apps.

The user had to manually turn this feature off for Photos to stop uploading those files automatically.

However, the new move is a temporary one by Google.

A notification for this change will also show up in the Google Photos app.

The full list of apps was not announced by Google but the confirmed apps include WhatsApp, Messages, Kik, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LINE.

Notably, the users' existing chat media that's backed up to Google Photos will not be affected by this change in any way.

You can also manually enable the feature from within the Google Photos app to ensure that all your chat media continues to get backed up.