WhatsApp is enriched with a feature allowing to send ephemeral photos and videos to its contacts. After a consultation, the content will be lost. Here’s how to take advantage of this option.
WhatsApp is inspired by Snapchat. The instant messaging service run by Facebook is deploying a feature to send ephemeral photos. He made the announcement on August 3, 2021. After a single consultation, the media will disappear from the recipient’s phone.
The company sells its functionality as providing ” more control over privacy “And offering” more confidentiality “. Beautiful promises, at a time when the controversy concerning the new conditions of use of the service is still not dead.
How it works ?
The feature is not yet available on all accounts and all devices, but it should arrive ” starting this week for all users “. If you want to verify that you have the feature or test it out, here’s how.
- Go to a whatsapp chat
- Press the trombone (Android) or the + button (iOS)
- Choose Camera Where Gallery and capture or select the photo you want to send
- Before pressing the send icon, click on the 1 circled in the caption field of the photo
- A message will indicate to you that “the single view is activated on this photo”
- You can send it to your recipient!
The photo will appear hidden in the discussion thread. Your recipient will be able to open the message once by clicking on it, but as soon as the back button is clicked, the photo will disappear from the conversation. No option to save the photo is offered.
What are the limits ?
WhatsApp indicates that ” single view photos and videos are protected by end-to-end encryption Like the rest of WhatsApp messages. In contrast, nothing prevents the recipient from taking a screenshot of the content sent. If so, the sending phone will not receive notifications. So be careful in your message sending.
Ephemeral photos and videos will expire after 14 days if they are not viewed. On the other hand, WhatsApp will keep a copy (encrypted) ” for a few weeks On its servers. Recipients can also flag the photo or video if the content is inappropriate. The content will then be transmitted to WhatsApp.
