WhatsApp offers more options with ephemeral messages

WhatsApp teams have decided to offer more options with ephemeral messages. Thanks to this new update, users will for example be able to activate ephemeral messages by default on all of their conversations. New fade-out times are also available.

While the FBI recently put WhatsApp in the most data-intensive apps, the instant messaging service teams have just announced more options for ephemeral messages. Indeed, since August 2021, the app offers ephemeral messages in the style of Snapchat.

Via a blog post on the official WhatsApp website, the developers detail the various changes made. First, users now have the option enable ephemeral messages on all chats by defaultincluding group chats. The messages will disappear after the chosen delay. However, WhatsApp reminds you that this feature is optional and does not modify or delete any of your existing conversations.

“If you choose to enable ephemeral messages by default, we’ll display a message in your chats to let people you talk to know. We thus indicate that you have chosen this way of communicating with all your WhatsApp contacts. Of course, if you want to keep messages from a particular conversation, you can easily change your choice.” explain the teams of the app.

Also read: WhatsApp – how to change your phone number?

WhatsApp adds additional fade-out delays

Otherwise, WhatsApp now incorporates new disappearance times. In addition to the 7-day period introduced since the launch of the feature, users will now be able to opt for a period of 24 hours or 90 days. In other words, you will have to wait longer to obtain even shorter deadlines.

“We believe that ephemeral messages and end-to-end encryption are two essential features of a private messaging service today, and bring us one step closer to the experience of an in-person conversation”. assure the developers on the official blog. As a reminder, it will soon be possible to delete messages without time limit. Until then, only the most recent messages could be deleted by the user.