WhatsApp is developing a feature that would enable users to send text messages that can only be read by the receiver once before they are destroyed, according to WABetaInfo. This text message cannot be copied, saved, or forwarded by you. There’s also a chance that people won’t be able to screenshot it. On Snapchat, you can configure text messages to disappear when the recipient reads them and ends the chat. This feature is similar to that.
The new feature’s development was discovered in WhatsApp’s v2.22.25.20 Android beta release. The screenshot from WABetaInfo shows that the usual send button will be changed to one with a lock in it if the text message’s view-once functionality is enabled. View-once sharing of images and movies is currently possible, and view-once text messages in chat will also appear similarly (with “1 Text” written in the preview).
Currently, WhatsApp has a feature called Disappearing Messages. Three time-out options are available to people: 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days. Once a set period of time, any messages sent after this feature is enabled will disappear from chats. Users have adequate time and freedom using this tool’s copy, forward, and snapshot options to deliver communications. Because of this, even though this feature is supposed to improve privacy, it is ineffective.
As opposed to other communications, view-once messages cannot be duplicated, forwarded, or screenshotted. Because of this, you can relax knowing that no one else will share or read your private messages. Despite this, this feature could not be entirely safe since someone might still take a picture of the message using a camera or another smartphone. The view-once text message feature should be included in the app’s stable version in the future months.
