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Note from WhatsApp on the function: "No influence on existing chats"
Photo: WhatsApp
Mark Zuckerberg has presented new options for the roughly two billion WhatsApp users.
For certain or all chats in the app, it can now be set so that all new messages disappear automatically after 24 hours, seven days or 90 days.
"Not all messages have to be available forever," commented Meta boss Zuckerberg on the change, which is based on an existing function.
WhatsApp users had already been able to decide beforehand that their messages would only be readable for seven days in individual chats.
Since August, WhatsApp has also offered the option of sending pictures or videos that the recipient can only view once.
WhatsApp emphasizes that already existing chats are neither changed nor deleted by activating the function.
The messenger provider also makes it clear: "If you have selected self-deleting messages by default, the other participants in your chats will also see it."
How to find the new settings
If you want to use the optional function, you can find it in the menu of the app under Settings / Account / Data protection / Standard message duration.
If it is activated here, the setting applies to all new individual chats.
If you only want the messages that disappear by themselves in certain chats, that can also be set. To do this, select the name of the chat partner in the respective chat. On the overview page that then opens, it is possible to activate the self-deleting messages specifically for this chat. Here, too, there are three options: 24 hours, seven days and 90 days. The feature can be turned off again in the same menu.
If a user decides to activate the function for the first time, WhatsApp gives another security warning: "Remember that there are other ways to save messages." Want to know that time has been deleted, for example with screenshots or by copying the messages from the app.
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