WhatsApp is amping up privacy on its platform. The company last year introduced disappearing media feature on its platform that enabled users to share photos and photos that disappear automatically once it has been seen by a user. It was followed by the ability share disappearing messages in the message app. Consequently, WhatsApp introduced a disappearing mode feature that enabled users to share all their messages in a way that they would disappear after the recipients of the messages read the messages. However, this functionality has a critical flaw. All the images and videos shared using this technique would still get stored on users’ smartphones enabling users to check them out later in their phones’ galleries. This posed a huge privacy risk. WhatsApp has taken cognizance of this matter and now it is rolling out an update to fix this issue. Also Read - WhatsApp hacks: How to see people’s Status without letting them know
The Meta-owned messaging app is making changes to the way photos and videos are saved on its platform. According to a report by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is automatically turning off the “media visibility” option for disappearing chats shared on its Android appThis is being done to ensure that the media files shared using the app’s disappearing messages feature remain private. WhatsApp is rolling out a similar feature on WhatsApp for iOS, wherein the company is turning off the “Save to Camera Roll” option for disappearing chats. Also Read - How to record WhatsApp voice calls on Android and iPhone
With this update, photos, videos and GIFs shared when the disappearing message mode is on will not be saved on users’ smartphones. Also Read - Here's how you can type upside down on WhatsApp
That said, WhatsApp users will still be able to save media manually in disappearing chats. This change is being rolled out to all users on beta and public builds. The blog site says that these changes should come into effect within 24 hours.
