WhatsApp users can now take and send photos and videos that disappear from a chat right after they’ve been opened/viewed.
The move is part of several features that WhatsApp has been introducing aimed at helping users have more control over their privacy.
Dubbed View Once, the new feature allows users to share sensitive information like passwords that they would not want to stay in the chat for good.
The photos and/or videos are not stored on the recipient’s gallery application, regardless of their settings.
Additionally, any media content shared as View Once content cannot be forwarded. Neither can they be starred or saved.
Photos or videos shared under View Once that haven’t been opened or viewed within 2 weeks automatically expire and become unavailable.
However, you’ll want to be cautious with whom you share what you may deem privileged information as, while all of the precautions have been taken care of by WhatsApp when rolling out the feature, anyone can still take a screenshot and keep it – and you won’t be notified that they did so.
There is also the bit where View Once photos and videos can still be backed up and restored by users who have their WhatsApp data synced on Google Drive. However, the positive news here is that this is only possible in cases where the media content hadn’t been viewed and it hasn’t expired after staying in such a state for over 14 days.
How will you tell when what has been shared with you is View Once content? “They will be clearly marked with a new “one-time” icon,” WhatsApp says.
While the View Once feature is new to WhatsApp with regards to media sharing (we got disappearing texts late last year), they’re not entirely new on social messaging platforms. They have been a staple of Snapchat, the app that took ephemeral messaging and sharing mainstream, for the longest time.
