Popular Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp announced more privacy for users with “disappearing messages and multiple durations.”
In a statement on Monday, the messaging platform announced to add two new durations for disappearing messages that include 24 hours and 90 days apart from the existing option of seven days.
“For people who choose to switch on default disappearing messages, we will display a message in your chats that tells people this is the default you�ve chosen. This makes clear it’s nothing personal – it’s a choice you’ve made about how you want to communicate with everyone on WhatsApp moving forward. Though of course, if you need a particular conversation to remain permanent, it�s easy to switch a chat back.”
The statement added that deciding how long a message lasts should be in the users’ hands.
“We�ve become accustomed to leaving a digital copy of just about everything we type without even thinking about it. It�s become the equivalent of a note-taker following us around making a permanent record of everything we�ve said. This is why we introduced disappearing messages last year, and more recently a way for photos and videos to immediately disappear after being viewed once.”
WhatsApp further expressed excitement to provide users with more options to control their messages and how long they stick around.
“WhatsApp users will now have the option to turn on disappearing messages by default for all new chats. When enabled, all new one-on-one chats you or another person start will be set to disappear at your chosen duration, and we’ve added a new option when creating a group chat that lets you turn it on for groups you create. This new feature is optional and does not change or delete any of your existing chats,” the statement concluded.
