Pictures And Videos On WhatsApp Will Now Self-destruct In 5…4…3…2

WhatsApp is about to get a lot safer. Well, kind of. 

The popular app has an “Expiring Media” feature in the wheels. The expiry feature allows videos and pictures to self-destruct.

This will happen once you open them and leave the chat.

You can now send pictures, videos and Gifs with a bit of confidence. 

After all, they’ll end up disappearing from the recipient’s media once the person opens them and leaves.

Be careful

Now, don’t go getting too confident. So much that you’ll send something you usually wouldn’t. 

The recipient could take a screenshot without you knowing.

To begin with, it’s still very unclear if WhatsApp has a plan for screenshotted media. It’ll only make sense if they do. 

Otherwise, there might be a lot wrong with this expiry feature.

Whatsapp needs to add a sort of alert for when a recipient takes a screenshot of media. 

This way, the sender knows that the picture he/she sent has been duplicated. 

But if Whatsapp doesn’t add the alert to the new feature, we’d expect that users will get a disclaimer.  

Furthermore, users can’t set expiry time or date for the media. It simply deletes itself.

WABetainfo, which has the reputation of leaking WhatsApp features, made some clarifications.

First, there’s no notification for when the media expires. The picture, GIF or video disappears.

Also, WABetainfo released photos of the new feature.

Below are the images:

One of the photos clearly shows that there will be a committed timer button. 

Once you send a picture, users will need to hit the button. 

Hitting the button triggers an expiry time, causing the media to delete after the time. 

The expiry media comes at the foot of Whatsapp’s soon to debut feature. Whatsapp calls it Expiring Messages. 

Similar to expiring media, messages would also expire after a period of one week.

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Also, expiring messages allows the media you send to disappear. 

But unlike Expiring Media, a recipient can save a file before it deletes.

The expiring media feature will serve as an extension to the soon-to-come expiring message feature.

Unfortunately, the feature will only be available to android users at its release. 

iOS users will get their hands on it at a much later date.

It might not be so unfortunate, by the way. 

Android users have had to manage crumbs of other features long after its release on iOS.

For example, Twitter’s voice app was made available only for iOS users.

Even now, android users haven’t gotten to experience the feature.

If you’re an iOS user, how does it feel to be a second option?

We’re just kidding.

The expiring media feature has emerged on the Beta version of Whatsapp on Google Play. 

For now, there’s no date for its official release on the app. 

Once there is, we’re sure to let you know.

What’s your thought on the new feature?

 Kindly share your opinion with us in the comments section.