WhatsApp UsersHeres Why Your Messages May Soon Disappear – Forbes

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WhatsApp is unique in the messaging worldstraddling security and functionality like no other platform. But others have the market-leader in their sights, and intend to close the gap. Specialists like Signal, and industry giants Google and Apple are all closing in. For its part, WhatsApp is developing and launching many new features to maintain its lead. And now we have news of yet another exciting feature on its way.

In keeping with its balancing act, some of WhatsApps updates are security focusedthink encrypted cloud backups, encrypted multiple device access and extended secure video calls, while others are more trivialthink stickers, QR codes and search. The latest feature to be trailedcurrently buried in beta codeis on the security side.

End-to-end encryption is the foundation of secure messagingif your messenger doesnt have this by defaultFacebook Messenger, Twitter, SMS, then dont use it. Period. But security can go furtherjust think of the issues buried in all the chat histories on all the phones youve messaged. The answer is self-deleting messages.

Signal disappearing messages

This is available and widely used on Signal, the best (and more secure alternative) to WhatsApp. You can set the messages in any conversation to automatically disappear after a settable period of between 5 seconds and 1 week. This doesnt stop screenshots or media attachments being stored, but it does prevent a build up of history.

We have known for some time that WhatsApp is developing a similar feature, and now we have confirmation from the ever-reliable WaBetaInfo that the feature is well-developed within the latest beta code, albeit we don't know how soon it will launch. We also now know that the feature will be called expiring messages.

One downside, though, we had thought that this expiring messages function would offer the same flexibility as in Signal, with options to set a timer by conversation. But it appears that WhatsApps expiring messages will delete after a fixed 7 days.

We can assume this feature will be assignable to specific chats, without impacting messages sent before it was applied. We can also assume that either side of a chat can apply the setting. For groups, only admins will have that option.

WhatsApp expiring messages

This isnt the most important forthcoming security update within WhatsAppthat would be extending end-to-end encryption to cloud backups, currently thats the biggest hole in WhatsApps security. Its also not the most criticalthat would be the forthcoming multiple linked devices, also due soon. But this helps close the gap to Signals better security-focused functionality, and thats clearly a good thing.

WABetaInfo has also revealed that WhatsApp intends to add a mute forever option for those annoying groups or chats that keep popping up unwanted notifications. This would be very much on the trivial functionality side of the line, when compared to the security advantages of cleaning message histories as you go.

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WhatsApp UsersHeres Why Your Messages May Soon Disappear - Forbes