WhatsApp to soon let you send 'expiring media' - here is what it is all about

A new WhatsApp feature will soon let users send self-destructing media on the messaging app. The company is working on a new Expiring media feature, which is an extension to another under-development feature called Expiring Messages.

Once rolled out, the media messages sent on WhatsApp will disappear from the recipient’s phone once they leave the chat, reported WABetaInfo.

The feature is quite similar to Instagram's feature wherein the photo/video expires after the recipient views it. When the feature will be enabled, the user can tap the new button to send the media with an expiration. 

The report mentions that there will not be any message like “This media is expired” like revoked messages, but it will really disappear from the chat. Expiring media will appear in a different way in the conversation, so you can easily understand that the image is going to expire.

Expiring media is currently under development and there is no word on when the new WhatsApp feature will be available in beta. 

Also Read: New WhatsApp feature will soon let you use the messaging app on multiple devices at the same time

The feature is an extension to Expiring Messages, which would allow WhatsApp users to send disappearing messages. According to the report, “any message eligible to be “disappeared”, will be automatically deleted from the chat.” Messages would be deleted after a specific time interval. 

Also, expiring messages feature will be visible only to admins of a group. For individual chats, the feature will offer various options which the user can select for the app to automatically delete messages. WhatsApp will also show a ‘timer’ symbol on the profile picture when the feature is enabled in a specific chat.