WhatsApp approaches Snapchat: it will allow you to send photos and videos that are deleted after seeing them. Now in the hands of the iOS beta testers. It will allow recipients to take screenshots without notifying you.
WhatsApp is one step closer to being able to offer iPhone users the option to share videos and photos that disappear after their first viewing, Snapchat-style. As reported by WABetaInfo this week, the new feature, called View Once , is now in the hands of iOS beta testers.
With View Once, Facebook advances in its strategy of incorporating the most representative characteristics of Snapchat to WhatsApp, as it has already done on Instagram. Currently, the application offers users the ability to send messages that are automatically deleted after seven days.
Despite this step forward in the privacy of multimedia files and users, the new WhatsApp feature will not prevent recipients from taking screenshots of photos and videos before they disappear, nor will it notify senders.
Under the new functionality, the image or video will immediately disappear from the sender’s chat window as the file is sent, while it will disappear from the receiver’s chat window after viewing the content for the first time.
To find out if the receiver has accessed the file, senders should search the chat for an “Open” message. Other details, such as knowing who has opened your photo or video, will be available in “Message Info”.
