WHATSAPP is working on a huge change that lets you save deleted texts for the first time ever.
You’ll be able to bookmark messages that were due to disappear.
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It means you won’t lose important texts if you’ve got Disappearing Messages turned on.
That’s an automated WhatsApp feature that deletes messages after a certain period of time (like 24 hours) to boost your privacy.
But by using these so-called Kept Messages, certain texts won’t be automatically scrubbed from the chat.
It was discovered by WABetaInfo, a WhatsApp blog that found the feature “under development” in the beta test version of the app.
Anyone in the chat can “keep” a message for the chat, as well as deleting it.
So you could “keep” someone else’s message, only for them to delete it for everyone manually.
“When someone keeps a disappearing message, it is saved forever for all people that take part of the conversation,” WABetaInfo explained.
“But anyone can decide to restore its expiration by unkeeping it and nobody will be able to save it again.”
“There may be an additional group option that lets group admins manage this setting in the future, but this is only our personal guess,” WABetaInfo noted.
It’s unclear exactly when the new feature will roll out to everyone on WhatsApp.
As it’s still under development, it may take weeks or even months.
How to get WhatsApp beta
To download WhatsApp beta for your smartphone you need to go to Google Play on your Android and search for WhatsApp.
Scroll down the page until you see “Become a Beta Tester”.
Tap the “I’m In” button and then click “Join” to confirm.
Now all you have to do is wait for the update to the beta version of the app.
Joining the WhatsApp beta on iOS for iPhone is more difficult, and has limited capacity.
Follow Apple’s guide here.
How to send WhatsApp disappearing messages
So how to do you activate WhatsApp disappearing messages today?
Open your app on mobile and then go into Settings > Account > Privacy.
Look for Disappearing Messages and then set the toggle to the On position.
Then choose a time period for messages to disappear – 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days.
A message will appear in the chat confirming that Disappearing Messages has been turned on.
To enable it on an existing chat, you need to archive and then unarchive it first.
You can also enable Disappearing Messages on specific chats by tapping into the individual settings of a WhatsApp contact.
The system isn’t fool-proof, of course.
If someone screenshots or records your chat, there’s no way to remove that content from their phone using an official WhatsApp feature.
As always, the best way to keep embarrassing or regrettable content off the internet is to not post it in the first place.
But if you’re particularly worried, using Disappearing Messages is a great system to use.
Remember: only texts sent after you activate Disappearing Messages will be deleted. It won’t go back in time and scrub old missives for you.
Texts also won’t be deleted in other chats that they’ve been forwarded to.
And Disappearing Messages will still be stored in a recipient’s back-up – but will be deleted when that user restores from the back-up.
Message quoting may also cause text to remain in a chat, even though the original message has been deleted.
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