Photos and videos within WhatsApp can now also be tagged in such a way that they can only be opened and viewed once by the recipient. This aims to increase the privacy of the sender to a certain extent by not keeping everything digital. The receiver, in turn, provides some storage space.
WhatsApp is the name of the new functionality now available for all messaging platforms. The editors were able to successfully try out Single View on Android, iOS, and WhatsApp Web in the Chrome browser for Windows 10.
The new functionality does exactly what its name suggests: photos and videos can only be opened and viewed once by the recipient and then removed from the chat history. “Not everything we share has to be preserved digitally for the long termWhatsApp explains about the new functionality and wants to return users a bit of sovereignty over their digital footprints.
Send photos and videos individually
Single view of photos and videos taken directly within WhatsApp using the camera function can be used as well as selected media via the smartphone gallery. In the caption area, a blue “1” with a timer diagram indicates functionality availability. After activation, a short message appears saying that the photo or video will be shared for one time. The white “1” now in the filled blue circle indicates that the one-time display is active. However, once the function is used, multiple photos or videos can no longer be sent simultaneously. And vice versa, the function is grayed out if several arguments are selected before activation.
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View WhatsApp once by sender
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Single view does not protect from screenshots
The fact that photos and videos can now only be opened once does not mean that the recipient cannot save them permanently via screenshot or screen recording, such as WhatsApp in FAQ explained. It also states that photos or videos sent or received for one-time viewing cannot be forwarded, saved, starred, or shared. The sender can only see that the photo or video has been opened by the recipient if the recipient has activated the read receipt. Media that has not been viewed within 14 days will automatically disappear from your chat history.
WhatsApp works on multi-device support
WhatsApp announced the one-off offer at the beginning of June when multi-device support was announced. WhatsApp has been testing this since mid-July with select users as part of a public beta test. This will be expanded step by step, additional functionality and performance improvement should be added.
