WhatsApp View Once feature: Photos and videos will disappear once seen by users
WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature called ‘View Once’. The new features deletes photos and videos from the chat head after those have been opened once. This feature will give users even more control over their privacy. The feature is similar to Instagram’s expiring media feature.
Now with this feature, users can send photos and videos that disappear from WhatsApp chat after the recipient has opened them once and leaves the chat head.
The company has confirmed that media files such as the photos and videos received using the ‘View Once’ feature will not be saved to the recipient’s Photos or Gallery. Once you view a ‘view once photo or video, you won’t be able to view it again.
You can’t forward, save, star, or share photos or videos that are sent or received with view once media enabled.
As per the company statement, the photo or video will expire if you don’t open them within 14 days of the media files being sent. However, you can also restore the ‘View once media’ from backup if the messages are still not seen at the time of backup. But if the photo or video has already been viewed, the media will not be added to the backup and can’t be restored.
The company said that “As with all the personal messages you send on WhatsApp, View Once media is protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp cannot see them.”
How to send View Once Photos and videos on WhatsApp
Here’s how you can enable the View Once feature on WhatsApp and send View Once media to contacts.
- Open WhatsApp and tap on the attachment icon.
- Then, go to Gallery and select the photo or video you want to send to your contact.
- Now click on the clock-like icon in the ‘Add a caption’ bar to enable the View Once feature.
- Once you enable the new feature, WhatsApp will show a message saying “Photo set to View Once.”
- Now you can send disappearing photos to your friends and family members.
That’s it! Now the feature will be fully functional on your device.
Ms Kalinga