WhatsApp testing self-disappearing picture, video message feature

Earlier in the year, we read speculations of WhatsApp testing disappearing text messages, which will automatically delete after the expiring of pre-set time. Now, a new report has emerged that the Facebook-owned company may go a notch up and bring similar self-erasing features of bigger multimedia contents.

The aforementioned feature will be called 'Expiring Media', an extension of 'Expiring Messages,' which is already undergone several rounds of testing, reported WABetaInfo, a WhatsApp community blog.

Here's how the Expiring Media feature works?
Once the media files such as images, videos, and GIFs are selected, the user can select a self-delete option. Once the user receives this on the inbox, it will open only once.

Unlike the expiring text message, which disappears after the pre-set time, the multimedia file gets automatically deleted soon after the user exits the chat session.

This feature is certain to add more value in terms of user privacy, as the media file cannot be saved on the receiver's phone. But, it needs to be seen if an image can be saved through a screen-shot option. Since it is in the early stage of testing, WhatsApp is likely to address that issue before making it available to the public.

In a related development, WhatsApp is in the final stage of testing the multi-device support, which will all users to maintain the same WhatsApp account (linked with one registered phone number) on several phones, tablets, and PCs.

Read more | Multi-device WhatsApp support coming soon

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