WhatsApp for iPhone Will No Longer Save Media Shared in Chats with Disappearing Messages Enabled

BY Anu Joy

Published 8 Apr 2022

WhatsApp

WhatsApp rolled out disappearing messages for iPhone in 2020. Although it would automatically delete messages after a set time, the media would be auto-saved on the device, rendering the feature useless. Now, the Meta-owned company is set to fix the issue by disabling auto-save for media in disappearing chats.

According to WABetaInfo, the app will no longer auto-save visual media to your iPhone’s Photos library if disappearing messages has been enabled. The Save to Camera Roll option is now automatically disabled for disappearing chats. This implies that even if the general auto-save option is turned on, media such as images, videos, and GIFs won’t be saved to your camera roll.

The feature is rolling out to all all regular and beta users on iPhone and Android, since it is not a part of the latest app, but a server-side push.

However, the change still doesn’t offer complete security when it comes to sharing sensitive information. You will still be able to manually save media from disappearing chats. Moreover, you can even take a screenshot of the supposedly “secret” conversation.

WhatsApp has still not succeeded in implementing a watertight feature to prevent disappearing messages from being saved. It could learn a thing or two from apps such as Snapchat which inform the user if someone has taken a screenshot of the message.

The messaging platform is also adding a few changes to the drawing interface with its latest beta for iOS 22.8.0.73. With this beta, the blur tool will no longer be available at the color bar, instead it will be repositioned at the bottom of the screen. Additionally, the update will also add two new drawing pencils to the app.

[Via WABetaInfo]