It was in October this year that we spotted WhatsApp testing a feature that automatically deletes messages from both the receiver’s and the sender’s respective message boxes after a particular period of time.
However, according to WABetaifo, the recent WhatsApp Beta version has revealed that the feature now called “Delete Messages” (which was previously named Disappearing Messages”) will soon be coming to the final version of the app.
The update is available in the 2.19.348 beta version of the app and people who have enrolled themselves in the Google Play beta programme can update their WhatsApp to try the feature. They can also manually download the .apk file from other sources.
"In the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.19.282 update, we presented a new feature called 'Disappearing Messages' that will automatically delete messages after a certain time. The feature is still under development, and WhatsApp is starting to work again on it in the 2.19.348 update, where they renamed 'Disappearing Messages' to 'Delete Messages'," WABetaInfo reported.
Once available, the "Delete Message" feature will come with a toggle on/off button and users can choose a stipulated time – 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month or 1 year – for the messages to automatically disappear.
This option has been available on Gmail, and Telegram, which is WhatsApp’s closest rival, for quite some time. According to WABetainfo, the feature will be made available in the group chats only and later rolled out for individual users.
—with inputs from IANS