WhatsApp Web Receiving Update With 'View Once' Feature: Report

WhatsApp Web has started receiving an update that allows users to send photos and videos that can be viewed only once, according to a report. The new feature, which is called ‘view once, was originally spotted on a recent WhatsApp for Android beta release. The feature has not rolled out for all users on mobile yet, but it is now apparently also being tested on WhatsApp Web. In November, the Facebook-owned platform introduced a disappearing messages feature that allowed users to make conversations that won’t be permanent in nature and disappear after seven days. Unlike some other popular apps though, WhatsApp does not allow users to set how long the messages would be available for, so the messages remain available for one week.

WABetaInfo has reported about the rollout of WhatsApp Web version 2.2126.11 that lets users make photos and videos disappear from the chat once they are viewed. Users are said to see a ‘view once’ button while sharing media content through the Web client — if the feature is already available for their WhatsApp account.

WhatsApp Web version 2.2126.11 appears to have brought the ‘view once’ feature
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

Last month, WhatsApp was spotted testing the ‘view once’ feature for WhatsApp for Android users. WABetaInfo at that time reported that it was rolled out to beta testers through WhatsApp for Android version 2.21.14.3.

WhatsApp will make it easier for users to share sensitive photos and videos through its platform on a temporary basis by offering the new disappearing feature. However, recipients will still have the option to store the media content on their devices by capturing screenshots.

The updated WhatsApp Web release is also said to have a new archive feature where the instant messaging app will no longer notify users about messages coming to an archived thread.

WhatsApp Web updates archived chats feature
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

WhatsApp may not make its new features available to all users initially. However, WABetaInfo, said that WhatsApp was continuously increasing this access to more people. Gadgets 360 was not able spot the WhatsApp Web update at the time of filing this story.

In addition to the two new features for WhatsApp Web users, WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month revealed that the app is working on a Disappearing Mode to let you disappear messages shared across chats and groups. Both executives also confirmed the rollout of the ‘view once’ feature and suggested testing multi-device support in the coming days.