WhatsApp’s self-destructing messaging feature: Key things to know

WhatsApp had a record-breaking New Year. The instant messaging platform is set to launch a bunch of new features for its users. While there's already a lot of anticipation around the Dark Theme, self-destructing messaging feature is also highly awaited.

A regular in the recent beta updates of WhatsApp, self-destructing messaging feature was earlier speculated to be similar to Snapchat's. Turns out, WhatsApp's self-destructing messaging feature will work completely different. The purpose of the feature is also quite different.

The first thing to know is that WhatsApp's self-destructing messages feature will launch as "Delete Messages."

The feature is essentially aimed at Group chat users. It will also be available for one-on-one messaging as well. The purpose of "Delete Messages" is to help users automatically delete older messages. It is likely to help users save on storage on their devices as well.

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"Groups have usually a lot of messages and this feature could help to save your phone storage, deleting old messages automatically (only administrators will be able to enable/disable it)," WABetainfo reported last month.

As for the time intervals, WhatsApp users will get five options to choose from - 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 1 year.

Apart from self-destructing messages, WhatsApp is set to launch features such as 'Dark Theme', UPI-based WhatsApp Pay payment service, and deeper Messenger and Instagram integration among others.