Social media apps, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp, displayed on a mobile phone screen
(Picture: PA Wire)WhatsApp will reportedly make your messages even more private with a new feature that could be out soon. The chat app is developing “view once” text messages that vanish as soon as they’ve been opened by a recipient. As spotted by the experts at WaBetaInfo, the new function adds an extra layer of privacy to your messages compared with the options currently available.
Not only will a “view once” message auto-delete once it’s been viewed, but the recipient also won’t be able to take a screenshot — or share, forward, copy, and save it either. In its current rough form, WhatsApp has created a special send button with a lock icon next to the chat bar that indicates the new feature. But its appearance could change during the development process.
WhatsApp previously introduced the “view once” function for images and videos last year as a way for users to share throwaway pics or sensitive info, such as a password. These types of messages aren’t stored on a recipient’s phone.
Despite the added privacy they offer, WhatsApp warned that there are still ways people can save these messages, such as by taking a photo of them on a different phone. Of course, the same workarounds will apply for the new disappearing texts feature, too.
Currently, you have a couple of options for keeping your text messages hidden, but both may not pass muster for privacy-minded users. If you want your messages to auto-delete, you can enable disappearing messages that vanish after 24 hours, seven days or 90 days. However, these messages still auto-save to phones by default even after they delete from chats.
You can also go into a chat and manually delete a message you have sent. But this requires users to be more proactive compared with other privacy options. It can also be confusing if someone doesn’t have read receipts enabled, as you may not know if they’ve seen the message before deleting it.
As for when the new ‘view once’ text messages will arrive, it could be within weeks based on past update timelines. WhatsApp’s new avatars, for instance, were first spotted in late October and officially released on December 7.
