You’ve surely already heard of WhatsApp’s ephemeral messages , right? Indeed, it hasn’t been long since the Facebook-owned app introduced this particular type of messages, which are automatically deleted after exactly 168 hours from their sending (therefore after about a week). A few months later, the most famous and used instant messaging application in the world is making a comeback. In recent days, the focus of everyone’s attention has been self-destructive images, a feature not yet available at the time of writing, but on which the WhatsApp team has been working for a while now, at least according to some. rumors.
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The self-destructive images of WhatsApp have been developed to make the messaging system as safe as possible and attentive to the privacy and safety of its users; a very important aspect that is often talked about, especially lately. However, since this feature has not yet been launched, I cannot explain in detail what it is and how it works in this guide. In fact, everything is (or almost) still “top-secret”. For the moment, the little we know about it we owe to “ WABetaInfo ”, a portal that analyzes the WhatsApp code (“Beta” version) to find the new functions that will be introduced. So let’s try to deepen this function in the clearest possible way.
Index
- What are
- Limits
- Compatible devices
- Risks
- When will they be available
What are
The self-destructive images of WhatsApp are images / photographs that are automatically deleted, or self-destruct, after a certain period of time.
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At this point, you may be wondering what self-destructive images are for if the ephemeral messages already exist. In reality, these two functions are different: while with ephemeral messages it is possible to make sure that any type of content exchanged in the chat is automatically deleted after some time (therefore texts, videos, audio and even images), use cases of images with limited expiration will be limited, in fact, to images and photographs (and, at the limit, to GIFs and / or videos).
Moreover, according to some information available on the net, the self-destructive images should be deleted as soon as the chat is abandoned (after the first display); so you won’t have to wait a whole, long week before they disappear without a trace. Another big and important novelty is the fact that self-destructive images cannot be saved in the Camera Roll or in the Smartphone Gallery (and, consequently, on iCloud or Google Drive). Therefore, there will be no need to manage the automatic download of media on WhatsApp , at least for this type of content.
Limits
I’m sure you’re quite curious about trying to send and receive self-destructive images on WhatsApp, but I’m afraid you need to be patient a little longer. In fact, there seems to be some aspects of this feature that WhatsApp technicians are still trying to implement and that could take months.
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In fact, the concept of self-destructive images won’t make sense until developers figure out a way to prevent users from taking screenshots . Still according to “WaBetaInfo”, this would seem, at the moment, the main obstacle.
Compatible devices
Are you wondering if you can also take advantage of self-destructive images? I want to reassure you: it doesn’t matter if you use an Android or iOS device, because this feature will be available for both operating systems. At the limit, it could be activated first on Android then on iOS, or vice versa, but it can certainly be used on all devices compatible with WhatsApp or WhatsApp Web / Desktop.
Risks
It may seem premature to you to talk about the potential dangers of a feature that hasn’t launched yet, I know. However, I think it is good to point out right away that it will be important to use this type of images with caution (and, more generally, all the technological tools at our disposal, however safe they may seem to us).
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Even if it is assumed that self-destructive images can neither be saved nor screenshotted, pay attention to what you decide to send and to whom , to avoid any possible unpleasant situation (read phenomena related to cyberbullying for further information).
When will they be available
Among the various rumors, there is no possible release date for the new feature. As already mentioned, there are still several aspects that need to be perfected and the timing is not known.
Hypothetically, the introduction of WhatsApp’s immediate expiration images could take place – in my humble opinion – in Q3 / Q4 of 2021.
