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WhatsApp now allows users to send disappearing messages

By Hilary Kimuyu November 5th, 2020 2 min read

WhatsApp has unveiled a new ‘dissapearing messages’ feature to be rolled out to all users later in the month.

The feature means messages will automatically delete after seven days, but it will be possible for recipients to save them.

Users will have the option of enabling the feature in conversations with their contacts, causing messages to be automatically deleted after seven days.

“Once enabled, new messages sent in the individual or group chat will disappear after seven days. The most recent selection controls all messages in the chat. This setting won’t affect messages you previously sent or received in the chat. In an individual chat, either user can turn disappearing messages on or off,” Whatsapp said.

According to the Facebook-owned app, in a group chat, only group admins can turn disappearing messages on or off.

To turn the feature on, you simply open up the WhatsApp chat you need and tap the contact’s name and select ‘Disappearing Messages’. If prompted, hit ‘Continue’ and select ‘On’.

To disable, simply follow the same instructions but hit ‘Off’ instead.

WhatsApp explained that if a user doesn’t open WhatsApp during this seven-day period, the message will disappear, but the preview of the message might still display in notifications until the app is opened.

Normally when you reply to a message, the initial message is quoted, and if you reply to a disappearing message, the quoted text might remain in the chat after seven days.

However, it is not just limited to text messages. You can also share self-disappearing photos, videos, audio files, location, and documents.

The option is available for both individual conversations as well as group chats.

WhatsApp is rolling out the feature in a phased manner and hence, not everyone will be able to use it right away.

However, the company expects all users to receive it by the end of this month.