Last Updated on December 14, 2020

With the new WhatsApp disappearing messages feature, you can now send messages that disappear after seven days when enabled.

This very feature only works on any contact you decide to enable disappearing messages – There is no dedicated WhatsApp privacy setting that will allow all your WhatsApp messages to start disappearing every seven days.

This is how WhatsApp disappearing messages feature works

• Identify which contact you want your messages to disappear after seven days
• Click on the contact’s profile like you want to view their display picture (DP), phone number and about.
• Then click on Disappearing messages.
• Toggle the option to ON

Your WhatsApp messages will start to disappear after seven days for that selected contact only.

If you want your messages to disappear after seven days, you have to repeat the steps on any contact you wish.

Points to note:

Once you have enabled WhatsApp disappearing messages feature, your previous messages will not be deleted.

When a disappearing message is to sent to your contact, the icon will be attached with your DP and the contact will be notified that you have turned disappearing messages on.

When you send a disappearing message to a contact that has not updated their WhatsApp to the version that supports the message disappearing feature, they won’t receive the message.

This is what they will receive –

You received a message but your version of WhatsApp doesn’t support it. Update your WhatsApp.

WhatsApp Disappearing message

Even if they update their WhatsApp, the message won’t be delivered to them. You can decide to turn the feature off or on.

If your contacts could not open the message after seven days, they won’t be able to read nor see them after they have been deleted.

When someone replies your disappearing messages, even after seven days the quoted message may still be there just same way it does when you permanently deleted a WhatsApp message.

If your friend decide to forward all those messages to another contact or takes a screenshot of them, the seven days deletion won’t affect it.

Verdict?

I may say that WhatsApp disappearing message or any form of disappearing is never a tight privacy.

As long as people can screenshot one’s messages or forward the messages to someone else, it really doesn’t stop anything.

Snapchat is a bit safer in its 24 hours disappearing messages even though one can save the chats. But Snapchat lets you know who has screenshotted your chats.

At least, you become aware of who you’re dealing with.