A flop comes in where a user will have erased absolutely nothing if recipient has set their phone to automatically save photos to their camera roll.
Expiring Media is allegedly due to arrive on WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.20.2011, which is currently ‘under development’ and without a release date.
WABetaInfo reported last month that WhatsApp is also working on introducing messages that will self-delete after a fixed period of one week.
‘WhatsApp has just submitted a new update through the Google Play Beta Program, bringing the version up to 2.20.201.1,’ said WABetaInfo.
‘When the user decides to send an expiring media –images, videos and GIFs – the media will disappear in the recipient’s phone, once he leaves the chat. After tapping the button, the feature will be enabled for the selected media,’ WABetaInfo says.
Once sent, the image will ‘completely disappear’ after the recipient views it and exits the chat, although they will receive a warning message before they exit the chat.
Not all image, video or GIFs will automatically delete themselves – only the ones that were sent with the Expiring Media button switched on.
Generally, when WhatsApp users delete their messages, they are replaced by a box saying ‘this message was deleted’.
Unlike this, deleted media ‘will really disappear from the chat as part of the new feature’, WABetaInfo says, without such a box.
Generally WhatsApp users have the option to save photos send to them to their camera roll on their smartphone.
WABetaInfo did not address how such saved photos would be deleted from the recipient’s camera roll if the feature is turned on.
WhatsApp, which has been accused of cloning their competitors said in August that there were a potential ‘Expiring Messages’ feature, which will apparently let users opt to make messages delete themselves after seven days.
WhatsApp, which was bought by Facebook in 2014 for about $19 billion, said that every private message sent using WhatsApp is secured is allegedly end-to-end encrypted by default.
But, the parent company, Facebook still faces cases of data breach and election manipulation campaigns.
