WhatsApp privacy feature set to change, but disappearing messages have a major problem

WhatsApp is introducing a new update for its disappearing messages feature in order to bring more privacy. But it has a problem! Know what.

WhatsApp will roll out a new privacy feature to prevent auto-save media in disappearing chats. (HT_Print)

A few months back, WhatsApp had introduced the disappearing messages feature. These chats disappeared after 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days as specified by the sender. Not just the messages, but it makes the media sent along with the message disappear too according to the set time. But WhatsApp clearly mentions that the downloaded media will be automatically saved to your photos too. So, if the disappearing messages feature is turned on, then the media sent in the chat will disappear eventually but it will still be saved on the phone if auto-download is on. Now, WhatsApp is set to change this with a new update to its disappearing messages.

According to a recent report by WabetaInfo the Meta-owned social media application WhatsApp is working on a new feature that will not let the users automatically save the media files shared in the disappearing messages. Additionally, it will let you prevent certain disappearing messages from expiring in a future update of the app. So far, WhatsApp users can auto-save the photos or videos shared in the disappearing chats in their gallery. According to the report, the new feature will roll out for both Android as well as Apple iPhone users.

Wabetainfo shared a screenshot which shows that WhatsApp is now automatically turning off the option “media visibility” for disappearing chats on WhatsApp for Android, which earlier let people view the images in the photo gallery. For iPhone users, the option “Save to Camera Roll” is automatically turned off for disappearing chats. That means the images, videos, and GIFs will never automatically be saved in the camera roll.

But this new WhatsApp has one MAJOR issue

Despite the efforts of WhatsApp to improve privacy while using disappearing messages and to keep the media more private, there are ways that can let the users save the media in their gallery. Hence, the whole problem may not be solved with the roll out of this WhatsApp update. A WhatsApp blog says that "use disappearing messages with trusted individuals, as it's possible for someone to forward or take a screenshot of a disappearing message and save it before it disappears."