WhatsApp will add new functionality to its disappearing messages feature, which will allow users to set messages in a chat to automatically be deleted after a set period of time.
As announced by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook, WhatsApp users will now have the option to turn on disappearing messages automatically for all their new one-on-one chats, so that all future messages will be automatically deleted from the service.
The Meta-owned messaging service also said it’s giving users more options for how long before a message is deleted. At the point when the feature initially launched in November last year, users just had the option of having messages disappear after seven days.
Going ahead, however, there will also be the choice of erasing them after only 24 hours or 90 days. The new functionality was previously reported as being in development.
WhatsApp has noticed that turning on disappearing messages by default won’t affect existing chats. When you start a new one-on-one chat, a notice will appear to say that the disappearing messages feature is turned on, alongside a note that says it’s on by default (so your contacts don’t think it’s anything personal). You also have the option of turning the setting off for individual chats.
Although the new default setting doesn’t affect group chats, WhatsApp said it’s added another option when creating groups to allow you to enable the disappearing messages feature.
