Tech News
WhatsApp adds ‘view once’ feature that makes photos and videos disappear
Dimapur, August 4 (EMN): Popular messaging app, WhatsApp, is finally adding a disappearing photo and video messages feature to its app. Users of the Facebook-owned messaging app can now send private photo and video messages that will disappear after a single viewing, the company announced on Twitter today.
The company states that the new ‘view once’ feature was designed to give “users even more control over their privacy.”
On its blog, WhatsApp wrote, “While taking photos or videos on our phones has become such a big part of our lives, not everything we share needs to become a permanent digital record. On many phones, simply taking a photo means it will take up space in your camera roll forever.”
“That’s why today we’re rolling out new View Once photos and videos that disappear from the chat after they’ve been opened, giving users even more control over their privacy.”
New feature alert!
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) August 3, 2021
You can now send photos and videos that disappear after they’ve been opened via View Once on WhatsApp, giving you more control over your chats privacy! pic.twitter.com/Ig5BWbX1Ow
WhatsApp’s new ‘view once’ feature is similar to Instagram and Messenger’s disappearing photo feature. Users can enable the feature by tapping on the timer icon to set a picture or video to ‘view once.’ Once a ‘view once’ message is seen by the receiver, the image or video will appear as “opened” and it will automatically disappear once the receiver goes back to the chat screen.
Facebook is labelling the feature as a tool to ensure users’ “private moments” stays secure and claims that the ‘view once’ media is protected by end-to-end encryption that even WhatsApp is not able to see them.
“As with all the personal messages you send on WhatsApp, View Once media is protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp cannot see them. They will also be clearly marked with a new “one-time” icon,” wrote WhatsApp.