Whatsapp innovates with a new feature

According to information from WABetaInfo relayed by Beegeek.fr, following the ephemeral messages, Whatsapp is working on a more advanced version of text messages visible only once.

This is a message that can only be seen once and only once before it disappears, both for the sender and for the recipient. This new feature is integrated into the latest beta version of the Android app, version 2.22.25.20. The recipient will not be able to share or forward the message once it has been sent.

This feature had already been applied before by Whatsapp for photos and videos. When you send a viewable one-time photo or video, the recipient cannot take a screenshot. This will now be the case for text messages visible only once.

While for photos and videos, this option is enabled by choosing a photo or video to send and tapping on the “i” icon in a circle on the right of the text input box, for text messages , it should be for text messages to press a special send button with a padlock – but the final design might change once the feature leaves beta.

Although no one knows exactly when this will happen, the function currently operational in the Whatsapp beta should appear in a future update.

These visible-once messages can be especially useful when you want to share something that shouldn’t be seen by anyone other than the recipient. On the other hand, it will always be possible for the recipient to keep a copy, by taking a picture of the phone screen, for example.

Note that in November 2020, WhatsApp added a privacy feature to its messaging: ephemeral messages. While these were originally limited to a fixed duration (disappearing following 7 days), WhatsApp later extended the feature to allow users to make them disappear following 24 hours or 90 days.