The messages will disappear after a certain time if either of the participating members in a conversation has enabled the ephemerality option, he said. WhatsApp is also rolling out this option to all group messages, and giving this choice at the time of the group’s creation itself, he said.
Ephemerality appears to be a big focus for WhatsApp as it works to expand the offering. “Privacy has always been core to WhatsApp. We launched the end-to-end encryption and made it default long before it became somewhat of a standard in messaging,” he said.
“We view ephemerality as a new emerging standard in messaging,” he said. In a Facebook post, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg added, “Not all messages need to stick around forever.”
The way disappearing messages are designed is not foolproof, to be sure.
Users can still bypass the disappearing protocol by forwarding the messages or taking a screenshot, but Khan suggested that it’s more of a non-tech problem: If the person you’re sending the messages to doesn’t wish to comply with your request, there is nothing much that can be done other than not communicating with them.WhatsApp users can now choose to easily have all new messages they send or receive disappear as the world’s largest instant messaging service broadens its offerings for what an executive described as the next privacy standard.
The Facebook-owned service, used by over 2 billion users globally, on Monday rolled out an option that allows users to enable the ephemeral feature by default for all new chats. Prior to Monday’s update, users had to manually enable ephemerality for each new chat with another individual.
WhatsApp is additionally also giving users the option to have their messages disappear after 24 hours or 90 days, in addition to the seven-day period it originally introduced the feature with last year.
“Ephemerality gives you the space to have conversations in a more open and honest way,” said Zafir Khan, head of Consumer Product at WhatsApp, in an interview with TechCrunch. Having the option to set ephemerality on all new messages by default should help users avoid awkwardness with their friends, he said, adding that the WhatsApp team heard feedback from users while developing these new options.In order to switch on disappearing messages by default, you’ll need to go into the app’s settings menu.
Go to WhatsApp Settings > tap Account > Privacy > Default message timer and select a duration.
You will need to have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on either Android or iOS first.
It’s not yet clear when the update will arrive, but given WhatsApp’s announcement, it will likely be with us very soon.Living apart from family and friends for over a year has made it clearer than ever that just because we can’t physically talk in person, it doesn’t mean we should have to sacrifice the privacy of our personal conversations.
‘We believe disappearing messages along with end-to-end encryption are two crucial features that define what it means to be a private messaging service today, and bring us one step closer to the feeling of an in-person conversation.’
The new feature can be accessed by going to the privacy settings in WhatsApp and tapping on ‘default message timer’.The company said the change has been made to give users more choice over how to protect their privacy.
‘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,’ WhatsApp said in a blog post.
‘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.WhatsApp users are being given the option to turn on disappearing messages by default when they start a new chat, the messaging platform has said.
The update will also see users able to choose after how long messages disappear: 24 hours, seven days or 90 days.
Currently, users can turn on disappearing messages for individual conversations, which sees them deleted from the chat after seven days – this latest update will enable users to turn on the feature across all new chats that begin after it has been activated.WhatsApp’s latest change will make your chats more private
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