WhatsApp is expanding its disappearing messages capability
If you have been using WhatsApp for a long time, you might be aware that disappearing messages are already one of the many features that you get in the messaging app. To configure this, you need to open the WhatsApp app on your smartphone, tap the hamburger icon, and choose Settings. Then, you need to select Privacy and choose the Default message timer option under the Disappearing messages section.Currently, you can choose between 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days options. It’s also worth noting that the messages will start disappearing only with new individual chats that you start. So, for instance, if you select the 7-day option and then send a message to a new chat, then that particular message will automatically disappear 7 days from the day you sent it.
WhatsApp is reportedly working on adding a new, “After reading” option to the list of available timers. This particular option will contain three extra timers – 5 minutes, 1 hour, and 12 hours. The sent text will automatically disappear from the recipient’s chat after the selected time once they have read it.
How the new disappearing message feature will exactly work
Disappearing Messages in WhatsApp. | Image by WABetaInfo
Let’s say you have chosen the 1-hour timer and then sent a message to your friend at 8:00 p.m. If your friend read the text at 8:15 p.m., then the message will automatically disappear at 9:15 p.m. from their chat.It’s worth noting that if you have the after reading option selected, then all the messages will disappear automatically after 24 hours, regardless of whether the recipient has read them or not. Furthermore, the change only applies to new conversations and not to the existing chats.
What’s the importance of this new feature
I must say the disappearing message is a very important privacy feature. It can come in really handy when you want to share sensitive messages online. For instance, if you send your bank details to someone, you would definitely not want them to stay with the recipient forever.
In this case, you can select a 5-minute timer so that the message carrying your bank details automatically gets removed from the recipient’s device 5 minutes after they have seen it. This ultimately lowers the chances of your personal information getting into the wrong hands, even unintentionally.
Google Messages needs to introduce something very similar soon
The power to send disappearing messages is very commonly found among messaging apps these days. WhatsApp isn’t the only app that has this option; Telegram has this too. In fact, in Telegram, you can choose a timer of up to one year, meaning the sent message will be deleted automatically after one year from the date it is sent.Anyway, I really want Google to introduce this capability to its messaging app as well. I rarely use WhatsApp, and Google Messages is the default messaging app on my smartphone. I use it for almost everything, whether having normal conversations or sharing sensitive messages and high-quality pictures.
However, whenever I send any such message through Google Messages, I always worry whether the recipient has deleted it or not after viewing it. But after the introduction of disappearing messages, I wouldn’t have to worry about that at all, as I would simply select a timer after which I would want the message to disappear from the recipient’s device.
Whether any such feature would ever make its way to the Google texting app, I currently have no idea. But if it does, it would really help Google Messages become the best messaging app out there. That said, the new disappearing message capability in WhatsApp is currently available to some beta testers, with the possibility of being released for the general audience very soon.
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