Self-destructing text messages will arrive on WhatsApp to offer greater security to users: they can only be seen once and then disappear
Whether we like it or not, WhatsApp is the most used instant messaging platform in the world.
Its updates are slow compared to other similar applications and the requests for improvements from users seem never to end.
Among these we also find a way to make sending text messages more secure, allowing the recipient to read them only once without leaving us the fear that a trace will remain, that they may be kept or forwarded to others.
In short, WhatsApp is working on an update that will add a truly secure way of exchanging messages, similar to the View Once mode introduced for exchanging photos and videos.
What happens with photos is the classic “bomb” system also present on Instagram which makes them visible for a few seconds after which they disappear and completely self-destruct from the recipient’s phone. There are also protection systems against “sneaky” trying to save a screenshot such as sending a warning to the sender or producing a self-obscured image where you can’t see anything.
WhatsApp now wants to do the same thing for text messages, so that people can also tell each other secrets, in total safety without having the fear that traces may remain on the interlocutor’s phone.
On WhatsApp we already find the possibility to delete messages for everyone or to use ephemeral messages that are automatically deleted after a certain amount of time, but neither of these two functions is equivalent to “View Once” which would represent an even higher level of security.
This feature is currently being tested in the latest beta of WhatsApp for Android. We will have to wait a little longer before it is officially released on iOS and Android. We will keep you posted.
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