The topic WhatsApp working on messages that disappear once you’ve read them is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
WhatsApp users will soon be able to set disappearing messages to vanish after the recipient has read them. Here are the details.
As spotted by WABetaInfo, the latest WhatsApp beta build on TestFlight includes a new setting for disappearing messages that lets users set them to vanish after the recipient reads them.
With the new “After reading” option, WhatsApp is bringing a new layer of privacy to disappearing messages. When users configure the message timer, they can choose to make their messages disappearing once they’re read. However, unread messages always disappear after 24 hours by default. Users who choose this option can also configure a timer for “After reading”. Specifically, they can choose whether their messages disappear 5 minutes, 1 hour, or 12 hours after the recipient reads them.
Interestingly, the “After reading” option currently appears in WhatsApp’s “Default message timer” setting, even though it works differently from the existing time-based options, such as 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days.
WABetaInfo says that the “feature is available to some beta testers,” but notes that “a limited number of users may also be able to test the feature even through the version available on the App Store.”
As WhatsApp explains, disappearing messages can be enabled either for individual chats or for all new chats by default, serving both as an added privacy setting and as a way to save storage space on the device. You can learn more about WhatsApp’s disappearing messages feature here.
Back to WABetaInfo’s report, the feature is also available in WhatsApp’s Android beta, suggesting it may not be too far from a broader release.