WhatsApp to roll out 15-minute window for Auto-Delete feature? Here’s how It might work

As a part of a major privacy policy upgrade, WhatsApp may soon bring in a new feature to upgrade its disappearing message feature. The new feature will allow users to automatically delete a message shortly after they have read it. The possible arrival of the new feature has been established after its addition was spotted as “After Reading” on WABetaInfo in the buildup of the application.

What the new After Reading timer entails

WhatsApp currently allows users to turn on disappearing message timers for 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days. This means that any message sent to the recipient will disappear within that time frame. While these set durations work fine for dissemination of generic information, it is not ideal for sharing sensitive information along with a one-time password, a verification code, or other such confidential information.

In order to solve the issue for users who often use the platform to share confidential information, WhatsApp has been working on the all-new “After Reading” option. This stricter time limit will ensure that the message vanishes almost immediately after it has been seen by the recipient. While users can already use the view-once feature for media and voice notes, the new feature will enable such confidentiality for texts as well.

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How will the new timer work

The new feature will establish a 15-minute window for both the sender as well as the viewer. The message will disappear after 25 minutes for both the sender and the recovered chat if read. In case it is not read, it will continue to exist in the chat for 24 hours, after which it will expire and vanish. Users will have the ability to turn on the feature on either a per-chat basis or across all conversations.

When will the new feature drop

The new feature was seen to be a part of the 2.26.12.2 update for Android. However, it is under active development and is not yet available to beta testers. WhatsApp is still testing the feature to ensure that it works reliably and could soon be rolling out with a new update of the app. Beyond these updates, WhatsApp is also said to have been working on a new feature for iPhone users. The new feature will enable automatic translation of messages across 21 languages.

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Spotted in the iOS beta update, the feature is said to make it easier for users to communicate across different languages and eliminate the need for manual translation.

The feature will be embedded into the chat and allow users to be able to translate the texts automatically. The texts will be translated on-device using Apple’s existing APIs.