The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a huge surge in the amount of data being used online. So much so, Google is limiting which third-party services can use Google Photos backup and sync features by default.
As Android Police reports, the change was announced via the Google Photos Help Community, with Google explaining that, "Due to COVID-19, people are sharing more photos and videos. To save internet resources, backup & sync has been turned off for device folders created by messaging apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and Kik." Existing backups aren't affected, but going forward those messaging apps won't be backed up by default.
The change goes further than just messaging apps, though. Android Police put together a list of the services Google Photos is no longer backing up folders for. That list includes:
Facebook
Helo
Instagram
LINE
Messages
Messenger
Snapchat
Twitter
Viber
Whatsapp
Although the backup feature is turned off now, you can turn it back on for any services used. Guidance on how to do that is offered in the Google Photos Help Center. However, keep in mind Google is making this change for a good reason, so if you don't really need the backups turned on, leave them off to save on resources.
As an alternative, you can always create a local backup if you have a spare external hard drive lying around and invest in some backup software. Even with cloud backups automatically creating a copy of your most important files, having a local backup is worthwhile and acts as another way to ensure you never lose any valuable photos and videos if the worst should happen.
Further Reading
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