WhatsApp introduces the ‘watch once’ feature for everyone
WhatsApp today officially started rolling out a “watch once” feature that can make content disappear from your phone.
We wrote about it before, as the feature was previously available in beta, but is now reaching more users. It is a function that almost all competitors already have: when you view a photo or video it is immediately gone. This new type of disappearing content will be labeled with a new icon indicating its ephemeral nature.
WhatsApp ‘take a look’ feature
The ‘view once’ function has several advantages and apparently users are waiting for this. The first advantage is that not all photos and/or videos that are sent are intended to last forever. Think of passwords, but also photos that you would like to show but that do not need to be shared (further). So it helps the sender to maintain some control over how long images are stored.
“While photos and videos on our phones are an important part of our lives, not everything we share needs to be stored permanently,” writes Facebook, which owns the messaging service.
Also, this new feature saves you precious storage space. You no longer have to (automatically) save photos on your phone, which you will never view again.
Screenshot!
The function is not really waterproof. Someone can always take a screenshot. And keep in mind that WhatsApp won’t let you know if someone does this. It is therefore always useful to think carefully about what you share via social media. And that includes WhatsApp as well. A misshared photo can haunt you for the rest of your life.
The images are only accessible for 14 days after sending, after that they expire anyway. The feature will roll out to iOS and Android this week, but you’ll need to be running the latest version of WhatsApp to try it out.
