Messages that self-destruct reach WhatsApp: how they are activated and how they work

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It’s one of those features that WhatsApp users have been waiting for for a long time. And now it has come. With an official note that appeared on its blog, the Menlo Park company announced the arrival of “ephemeral messages.” What is it about? From temporary messages, which last a few days and then self-destruct. A feature that other instant messaging applications (such as Telegram) have been offering for some time. And perhaps that is also why it was highly anticipated on WhatsApp, which with its two billion users worldwide is the most used application in the world in its sector.

What are “ephemeral messages”?

At the moment, the messages we send and receive on WhatsApp remain on our phone indefinitely. This allows us to keep and relive the important moments shared with our contacts. However, much of the information we send or receive does not have to remain visible forever. Hence the idea of ​​WhatsApp to create ephemeral messages. “Our goal – they write from the American company – is to make conversations on WhatsApp look as similar as possible to those carried out in person. This means that they do not need to be stored forever. And that is why we want to give our users the possibility of using ephemeral messages on WhatsApp ».

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How does it work

When this feature is activated, new messages sent in a chat will no longer be visible after 7 days. In one-to-one chats, both parties can turn ephemeral messages on or off. In group chats, only administrators will be able to use this feature. For the moment, “we have decided to make the ephemeral messages visible for 7 days, since we believe that it is an adequate amount of time so that users do not lose the thread talking and accessing the messages they need. It will be possible to manage your chats so that After 7 days, the shopping list or store address will automatically disappear. We hope our users will enjoy this new feature, which will be available worldwide from this month. “

How they are activated

Therefore, it is possible to send temporary messages on WhatsApp by activating ephemeral messages. If you have an iPhone, you can activate this feature by following this procedure: open WhatsApp chat – touch the contact’s name – touch Ephemeral messages (if necessary, touch Continue) – select On. You can use the same procedure to disable them, but on the last screen select Disabled. If you have an Android smartphone, the procedure is identical, but the last step does not include an activated redaction but a “Yes – No” space.

You must know that …

When this option is activated, new messages sent in an individual or group chat will no longer be visible after seven days. The most recent selection checks all messages in the chat, but does not affect sent or received messages before enabling ephemeral messages. And it’s fair to remember that if a contact doesn’t open WhatsApp for seven days, the message will disappear. However, the message preview may still be visible in notifications until WhatsApp is opened. When you reply to a message, the opening message is quoted. If you reply to a short-lived message, the quoted text may remain visible in chat even after seven days. Also, if an ephemeral message is forwarded to a chat where ephemeral messages are disabled, it will remain visible in the forwarded chat. If a user backs up while the ephemeral message is still visible, it will be included in the backup. Ephemeral messages will be removed when a user restores from a backup. WhatsApp recommends using ephemeral messages only with trusted contacts. For example, someone could: forward or take a screenshot of an ephemeral message and save it before it is no longer visible; copy and save the content of an ephemeral message before it is no longer visible; take a photo of an ephemeral message with a camera or other device before it is no longer visible.