Overview
- Google began counting Android system backups toward Google account storage on July 7 for new accounts and is rolling the change out to existing accounts over the coming months.
- The types of data newly counted are SMS and MMS messages, call logs, device settings and app data, all stored as part of Android system backups.
- Google says the average added storage per account is small at about 40 megabytes, though backups with many media-rich messages can be much larger.
- New, finer backup controls will let users exclude specific categories from backups and Pixel phones already show these toggles in settings.
- Users near their free quota — a situation made more common by Google’s recent cut to new-account free storage — can prune media, manage app-specific backups (for example in WhatsApp) or buy Google One plans such as 100 GB for roughly €2 per month.