Android backup data now counts against your Google storage, after a change Google switched on for Tuesday, 7 July 2026 that pulls almost everything your phone saves into the same 15GB limit shared by Gmail, Drive and Photos.
That pool used to be spared most of this data, as reported by 9to5Google, with only media in Google Photos and the photos or videos buried inside MMS messages ever counting.
The rest of your backup sat outside the quota entirely.
Android backup is the safety net that restores your phone when you upgrade or reset it, copying your messages, app data and preferences to Google’s servers so a new handset can pick up exactly where the old one left off.
That convenience now carries a small storage cost.
What the Android backup change means for Google storage
From that date, Google began counting the data types listed in your Android backup settings, including the actual text content of your SMS messages, your call history and your device settings.
The switch flipped first for new backups, so not every phone will register it at once.
Before you picture your inbox bursting, the scale here is tiny. Google estimates the change adds roughly 40MB to the average person’s backup, a rounding error next to a 15GB allowance.
For the vast majority of users, the real impact on Google storage is close to nothing.
The people who might notice are those already scraping against a full 15GB, where every megabyte edges them closer to the moment Gmail stops receiving mail or Photos refuses new uploads.
For everyone else, 40MB vanishes into the noise of a single short video clip.
How to control your Android backup settings
Google is also rolling out fresh on and off toggles that let you decide what backs up, with separate switches for SMS and MMS messages, call history and device settings.
On Pixel phones they sit under Settings, then Accounts and backup, then Google Backup and finally Other device data.
This is not the first time Google has reshaped what the free 15GB covers. The company ended unlimited free Google Photos backups in 2021, folding new uploads into the same shared pool, so tightening the rules on Android backup fits a longer pattern of the free tier gradually shrinking.
New Android backup users are feeling the change first, with existing accounts set to follow in the coming months.
If you would rather keep your call logs and texts off the quota, those toggles are the place to check before that extra 40MB quietly lands on your account.
