WhatsApp tests new message feature on iOS

WhatsApp has been testing a new feature since last month that causes messages to disappear immediately after being read once on the Android application, and it is now reported to be testing this feature on iOS. According to information from WABetaInfo, as cited by GSM Arena on Sunday (17/5), the ‘View-Once’ disappearing messages feature was discovered in the WhatsApp beta version for iOS.

This feature can be activated via the ‘After reading’ option within the ‘Default message timer’ > ‘Message timer’ menu. On iOS, this feature allows senders to set a countdown timer for 5 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours, after which the sent message will automatically disappear once it has been read by the recipient. If the message remains unread, it will automatically disappear after 24 hours.

On the sender’s device, the message will be automatically deleted after the selected duration. On the recipient’s side, if a message is read at 10:10 am, it will automatically disappear at 10:15 am. If the message is not read, it will be automatically deleted from the device at 10:00 am the following day. According to WABetaInfo, this feature is already available to a number of WhatsApp beta users on iOS. However, it is not yet known when WhatsApp will release this new messaging feature publicly to all Android and iOS users.