Last year WhatsApp released a disappearing messages feature that can delete messages automatically after seven days. Now they present two new duration options, namely 24 hours and 90 days.
WhatsApp spokesman Zafir Khan said these two new options were added to give users flexibility in protecting their privacy.
"This option was added because our users asked for more flexibility across different conversations and required different durations," Khan said in an exclusive interview with us.
Khan admits that the gap between 24 hours and seven days with 90 days is quite long, but these three options are provided so that users can activate disappearing messages according to their preferences.
He gave an example of WhatsApp users who talk about sensitive matters, they can choose the 24-hour option. Meanwhile, users who often store important information in chat and still need it for some time in the future can choose the 90 day option.
"So 90 days, even though it looks quite long, it's relatively short compared to storing chat history forever. So it still gives access to chat history but won't stay there forever," said Khan.
The way it works and how to activate the new duration of disappearing messages is still the same as before. This feature can be enabled for individual or group chats, but group admins can change the settings to allow only admins to enable or disable disappearing messages.
If the user doesn't open WhatsApp within 24 hours, seven days, or 90 days, the message will disappear from the chat. But the message will still be shown in the notification preview until WhatsApp is opened.
When replying to a message, the original message will be quoted. If the message being replied to is a temporary message, the quoted text may still remain in the chat after the selected duration.
If a message is forwarded to a user who has turned off the disappearing messages feature, the message will not be lost in the forwarded chat.
If the user makes a backup before the message is deleted, it will be backed up to the backup as well. New messages will be deleted when the user restores the backup.
To activate the disappearing messages feature on WhatsApp and change the duration, it's quite easy, here's how:
Open the WhatsApp application on your cellphone then open the chat that you want to activate the automatic message deletion feature
Tap on the individual contact's profile, then scroll down and select the option Disappearing Messages or Temporary Messages
Choose one of the three duration options offered: 24 hours, seven days, or 90 days
To turn off the disappearing messages feature, simply select the Off option in the Disappearing Messages settings.
