This flaw makes WhatsApp’s ‘delete for everyone’ feature ineffective: How it works

WhatsApp allows users to delete their messages permanently seven minutes within sending it.

WhatsApp rolled out ‘delete for everyone’ feature last October (Reuters)

WhatsApp's 'Delete for Everyone' feature won't work if someone quotes your message before you delete it.

If someone has quoted your message on WhatsApp before you delete it, you will still be able to see that message -- rendering the 'Delete for Everyone' feature ineffective, The Next Web reported.

The report further stated that this isn't a bug but instead is a part of WhatsApp's feature. Also, there is no mention of how the feature works in cases of quotes in the WhatsApp's FAQ.

How it works

WhatsApp allows users to delete messages sent by mistake within seven minutes of sending it. You can do so by tapping on the drop down icon of the message and choosing "Delete for everyone".

However, if within these seven minutes, that message is quoted then the original message will successfully disappear but the deleted text continues to show in the recipient's quote. Here, quote means replying to a particular message.

For example if you reply to a particular message before the person deletes it, the quoted message will still appear on the chat. While you can still delete the original message, the quoted message prevails. A screenshot is attached below to make things clearer.

WhatsApp's 'delete for everyone' feature doesn't work if your message is quoted before you delete it (Marcia Sekhose)

WhatsApp's 'delete for everyone' feature doesn't work if your message is quoted before you delete it (Marcia Sekhose)

This comes following the reports in which researchers claimed to discover other shortcomings in WhatsApp's implementation of deleted messages.

In one particular flaw -- discovered by Spanish tech blog AndroidJefe -- it was possible to recover deleted messages from the Android notification history.

"Relying on third-party apps, users could browse the notification log to read purged texts," the report said.

The Independent also highlighted that this approach could only recover deleted messages that were read or interacted with.

With inputs from IANS.