Featured Image Credit: Matt Cardy / Contributor / NurPhoto / Contributor
Ever sent a photo or video you wish you hadn't? A drunken photo to your ex, or maybe a password that was meant for one pair of eyes only?
Many WhatsApp users were gutted when last year the company removed a feature which could help prevent you from getting too red-faced over such images - a feature many WhatsApp users loved.
In 2021, WhatsApp introduced the 'View Once' feature. This feature meant that users could send media files that could only be seen by the recipient once before deleting itself.
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WABetaInfo - the WhatsApp news website - commented that the 'ability to send view once messages from Desktop apps is very beneficial for users'.
The 'View Once' feature is one commonly known among Snapchat users. A platform that marketed itself as sending temporary media - only to be viewed once (maybe twice) and never to be seen again.
Despite the many users who praised the feature, it did receive backlash from other users. For example, charities for children raised their concerns about its potential breach of child safety, especially from abusers online.
Following its initial release, WhatsApp ended up removing the feature from desktop due to the fact that it was unable to prevent users from screenshotting the messages for future keeping.
As a result, the feature couldn't work to its full advantage, but the WhatsApp community wasn't happy with the removal.
WABetaInfo said: "The inability to send view once messages from desktop apps garnered significant user complaints last year, highlighting the importance of this feature."
Recently, however, WhatsApp confirmed they have brought the beloved feature back.
The feature is set to return - if it hasn't already - to WhatsApp users on both web and desktop over the coming weeks. Though, it is still uncertain whether they have resolved the screenshotting media issue.
To activate 'View Once' on your WhatsApp, you can do so by selecting the photo or video you wish to send from your photo library, tapping the 1 icon (View Once), and adding a caption before sending your chosen media file.
Additionally, WhatsApp is looking to extend the 'View Once' feature to its voice notes (Listen Once?) as confirmed on its website a few weeks ago. The feature would work in a similar fashion, allowing the voice recording to be listened to once before automatically self-destructing.
It would be interesting to see whether WhatsApp will eventually roll out this feature for text messages - especially considering text messages can be sent quite frequently accidentally.
Currently, there's no news on whether WhatsApp would consider incorporating this feature for its users.
It remains to be seen whether WhatsApp will eventually introduce this feature for text messages, considering that messages are often the most inadvertently sent digital content. Currently, there is no information on whether WhatsApp is actively considering incorporating this feature.
