How to use the disappearing messages feature on WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business

Disappearing messages are nothing new in cross-platform messaging apps, but it is indeed new on WhatsApp. WhatsApp has rolled out a bouquet of new features to its users that include smart storage management, UPI-based payments, etc., and one of them is the disappearing messages feature. If you haven’t used the feature on other messaging apps like Telegram, let me talk briefly about what the feature is all about. The term disappearing messages is self-explanatory, and yes, the messages will automatically disappear or say, deleted, after a certain point in time. Disappearing messages on Telegram is long there, but WhatsApp has recently introduced the feature.

Now, you might ask, why disappearing messages on Telegram can be useful! It can be useful in several circumstances. For example, you are sending some private information during a conversation, and you don’t want the message to be there on the recipient’s phone after a certain point in time. Even though both of you can decide on deleting the message after a certain point in time, but we all make mistakes, and we might forget doing that. In such situations, disappearing messages will automatically disappear after say, a week or so. That said, today, I will basically talk about how you can get started with disappearing messages, a cool feature indeed, on WhatsApp.

So, without any further delay, let’s get started with how you start using and enhance your privacy by a notch using disappearing messages on WhatsApp.

Enable Whatsapp disappearing messages

  • Open WhatsApp, and then select the conversation where you want to turn on disappearing messages. After you have opened the conversation, tap on the name of the contact.Open whatsapp conversation
  • Now, tap on the ‘Disappearing messages’ option. If it doesn’t appear, scroll down a bit.Disappearing messages option on WhatsApp
  • In the ‘Disappearing messages’ menu, select ‘On’.
    Enabel Disappearing messages menu
  • Now you can see a small clock icon just beside the profile picture of the user which indicates that the disappearing messages feature is enabled for that conversation. You can also see a message that says the messages will automatically disappear after 7 days.
    Whatsapp messages will automatically disappear after 7 days.
  • You can disable the WhatsApp message disappearing feature at any time exactly the same way.

This is indeed a cool feature by WhatsApp, however, the feature still has to go a long way, as it is still immature, in terms of what Telegram has to offer when it comes to disappearing messages.

With Telegram, the sender can set a message self-destruction timer after which the message will disappear. WhatsApp on the other hand doesn’t offer a choice. If you choose self-destruction of the messages, they will disappear only after 7 days.

With Telegram, you can create a separate conversation thread with every single user where the messages will disappear automatically. On WhatsApp, you can enable self-destruction of the messages on the same thread. Though that shouldn’t make a lot of difference, we all want some extra relevant options.

Disappearing messages are for security. If we want to send messages that will automatically disappear, we don’t want it to be with any of the parties after 7 days or the set interval. With Telegram, none of the parties involved in a conversation where the messages will automatically disappear will be able to capture screenshots. With WhatsApp, there is no such option.

So, I must say, the disappearing messages feature on WhatsApp is still half-boiled, and it has a long way to go. But yes, something is better than nothing, and we can all expect WhatsApp to enhance the way disappearing messages will work. We just need to wait for more till the disappearing messages feature on WhatsApp becomes full-fledged and more useful for all of us.

So, that was all about the disappearing messages feature on WhatsApp. You can use the feature both on the regular version of WhatsApp, and WhatsApp Business aka. WA Business. Do you have any questions about the WhatsApp disappearing messages feature? Feel free to comment on the same below.

1 thought on “How to use the disappearing messages feature on WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business”

  1. Some truly interesting details you have written.Assisted me a lot, just what I was searching for :
    D.

    Reply

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