How to send Disappearing Messages in WhatsApp
WhatsApp disappearing messages make it easy to keep your chats clean and clutter-free. If you’ve ever wondered how to use this feature, you’ll be glad to know it’s built right into the app. WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, which few mainstream messaging apps do, and it allows users to forward messages, make audio and video calls, send files, and send voice messages, among many other impressive things.
WhatsApp even has business accounts and because it is so popular all over the world, you will find many companies integrate a WhatsApp business account into their on-site customer support.
How WhatsApp Disappearing Messages Work
If you use WhatsApp a lot, chances are you have quite a few active threads with hundreds, if not thousands of messages. The messages and media sent over a single conversation thread or over all threads can be cleared easily enough but it has to be done manually.
If you’re not interested in hanging on to messages in a particular thread, you can enable WhatsApp disappearing messages to delete them automatically.
Enable WhatsApp Disappearing Messages in Any Chat
WhatsApp disappearing messages is a feature available on both iOS and Android. Make sure you’re running the latest version of the app before getting started.
- Open WhatsApp on your phone.
- Select the conversation thread that you want to enable disappearing messages for.
- Tap the contact’s name at the top.
- Select Disappearing messages.
- Choose your preferred timer: 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days. To turn the feature off, select Off.
- WhatsApp disappearing messages will be enabled for that chat at your chosen duration.
Set a Default Timer for WhatsApp Disappearing Messages in New Chats
WhatsApp also lets you apply disappearing messages automatically to all new individual chats, so you don’t have to configure the setting conversation by conversation. To set a default timer, go to Settings > Privacy > Default message timer and choose 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days.
Keep in mind that this setting only applies to new one-to-one chats started after you enable it. It will not change any of your existing conversations, and it does not automatically apply disappearing messages to current or future group chats.
Limitations
- WhatsApp disappearing messages work in both one-to-one chats and group chats. In group chats, any member can turn the feature on or off by default, but group admins can restrict this so that only admins are able to change the setting.
- When you enable disappearing messages for a conversation, the other person is informed that it has been enabled. They know the messages sent over the thread will be gone.
- Messages disappear after your chosen timer — 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days. Disappearing messages are NOT the same as archived messages. Once a message disappears, you won’t be able to get it back.
- Your chosen timer gives anyone time to take a screenshot of a message so while a message may be gone, proof that it was sent may still exist.
- Quoted replies can keep part of a disappearing message visible. If someone quotes a disappearing message in their reply, the quoted text may remain on screen even after the original message has disappeared.
- A message sent over a thread with disappearing messages enabled can be forwarded. The original message will disappear but the forwarded message will not disappear in the destination chat unless that chat also has disappearing messages turned on.
- Any media that has been saved from a message cannot be purged from the device. WhatsApp disables automatic media saving for disappearing message chats, but anyone can still save files manually, and WhatsApp cannot delete a video, audio, file, or image that has already been saved to a phone’s storage.
- Messages sent before disappearing messages is enabled will not be removed. The feature works only on messages that have been sent after it has been enabled.
Conclusion
Knowing how to use WhatsApp disappearing messages is a good way to keep the app from bloating with old conversations. If you’re not in the habit of cleaning the app regularly, this is a great way to automate it. You will need to enable the feature for chats one-by-one unless you set a default timer in your privacy settings. It’s worth noting that group chat admins can also control whether other members are allowed to toggle the setting, giving you more control over shared conversations.
