WhatsApp is releasing a new feature this month that makes messages automatically disappear after seven days. Handy for group chats that involve a lot of conversation every week. This is how you set it up.
WhatsApp is rolling out feature for disappearing messages
WhatsApp has been testing the disappearing messages feature for at least a year, but the feature is finally rolling out officially later this month. This is a gradual roll-out, so the position may not yet be available for you. When ‘disappearing messages’ is enabled, WhatsApp will automatically delete new messages after seven days.
Seven days has been chosen so that conversations are not permanent, but you have enough time to respond to older messages. That way, WhatsApp conversations are more like conversations you have in person, because you can’t go back to messages said more than a week ago.
You can enable the feature yourself in your WhatsApp settings. You can choose whether you only want to use it for group conversations, or also for individual WhatsApp conversations.
- Open a WhatsApp conversation for which you want to set disappearing messages;
- Tap the name of your contact;
- Select ‘Disappearing Messages’ and then tap ‘Next’;
- Tap ‘On’.
Messages are not always completely deleted
While the self-destructing feature sounds very reliable, there are some caveats to be made. You should still be careful about sending confidential information via WhatsApp. Messages you send can still be forwarded by the recipient.
So if the Disappearing Messages feature is turned off here, your messages in another conversation will persist. Quoted messages in the same conversation can also remain longer.
Have you not read new posts from seven days or more ago? Then you will continue to see the notifications, but you can no longer open the messages yourself. If you back up your WhatsApp messages before they are deleted, your messages will be saved by WhatsApp.
If your conversation partner has automatic downloading of images and videos turned on, they will also be stored on your friend’s device. Screenshots of messages are also still possible.
This way you can make WhatsApp more secure
It is therefore also important with this function to properly secure WhatsApp, so that no confidential information ends up with the wrong people. There are several ways you can make WhatsApp more secure.
On iPhone we have listed useful security tips for WhatsApp for you. This is important, because fraud is increasingly common on WhatsApp. Do you want to know how to recognize this? In our article, we explain how to spot WhatsApp fraud. We also answer the most important questions about hacks on Whatsapp.
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