What’s App is working on a new ‘view once’ feature for texts. This feature can already be applied to images and videos sent on the platform

Recipients will not be able to take screenshots of the disappearing messages, or share, forward or copy them. This added layer of security will be welcomed by many users of the popular messaging app.

Currently, there is a way to automatically delete messages in What’s App, as you can set ‘disappearing messages’ after 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days. However, these messages still auto-save to the phone as a default. You can also go into a chat thread and manually delete specific messages. But this requires the user to be proactive in choosing these options.

WABetaInfo shared this blog about the new ‘view once’ feature on What’s App. They also shared an image showing a screenshot of the feature in use. You can see the ‘send’ button has a ‘padlock’ symbol demonstrating how the feature can be used. The sender will also be able to see if the recipient has viewed the text if their read receipts are switched on. 

On the blog WABetaInfo said, “This is very useful when you share very important information and you want to immediately delete them from the recipient’s phone for added privacy so you don’t even need to delete the view once text for everyone since it will be automatically deleted.”

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