We’ve already established that some people send messages that they either regret sending or they want to disappear after some time. There are a lot of messaging and social media apps that have adapted disappearing messages. WhatsApp introduced something similar to that last year but the only option you have is to force a message to disappear after 7 days. It looks like they’re adding a new option soon as they seem to be testing out an option to auto-delete a message after 24 hours.
WABetaInfo is a reliable source of leaks and tips about anything related to WhatsApp. They have discovered that the Facebook-owned messaging app seems to have added a new option to the disappearing option. So aside from the previous 7-day option (well the only other option available previously), you now can choose to have your message disappear after 24 hours, similar to what happens in things like Instagram Stories, Snapchat, etc.
The screenshot that has been shared is for the iOS version but the information shared is that the rapid disappearing option will be available in all WhatsApp platforms including Android. Oftentimes features are tested out on iOS apps first because it might be simpler than the more complicated Android version that has to be adapted to several different devices. But for sure this disappearing option will eventually be tested out on Android as well.
WhatsApp is also working on other things like the ability to send photos and videos more privately. When this is enabled, the recipient can only open the photo or video once and it will self-destruct afterwards. Of course people can still screenshot this before it disappears but at least it’s still better if it’s privacy that you’re looking for. We don’t know though how this will work with the 24-hour disappearing message option.
We don’t know yet when either of these features will show up in the beta version and eventually the stable version. First though, it has to get out of the testing phase so hopefully that will be soon.