People in the 21st century sure do love their burn notices. No, they’re not literally torching paper after reading its supposedly covert contents — they’re setting a timer for a clip they took on apps like Snapchat. Disappearing messages have become entrenched in the tool belt of any good communications app these days.
Far from an exception,WhatsAppwent further by introducing View Once messages for text, photos, and videos in 2021. Now, the feature is expanding to voice messages. Here’s how you can make them disappear after they’ve been heard.
View Once vs. disappearing messages
To be clear,View Onceis unlike disappearing messages where all the messages you send in a conversation are automatically deleted after a period of time that you’ve set — anywhere from 24 hours to 90 days. You also have the option to have every message you send to anyone on WhatsApp disappear after a time via a default setting. View Once instead deletes a designated piece of media after the recipient opens the chat and sees it, the first and only time.
View Once voice messages
What’s new,as announced by the Meta-owned company(viaThe Verge), is the fact that you can set a voice message you’ve recorded to be viewed or, in this case, listened to just once. You’ll be able to share a View Once voice message with any individual on the app (read: no group chats). When a user receives a View Once voice message, they’ll be able to play it in an enclosed player environment as many times as they’d like. Once they exit that environment, they lose access to the clip forever.
View Once messages aren’t entirely private: while in the listening environment, recipients may also choose to externally record the message or report it to WhatsApp, where a moderator may also listen to the message.
How to send a View Once voice message on WhatsApp
How to listen to a View Once voice message on WhatsApp
When you receive any View Once media, you’ll see a message line from the sender with the View Once ‘1’ icon in place of any actual content. You’ll have 14 days from the time the message hits your device to listen to the message before it gets deleted. Tap on the message to open the enclosed viewing environment.
From here, you’ll be able to listen to a View Once voice message through the usual playback interface (replete with speed controls). You’ll also be able to report the message by tapping on the three-dot icon in the top-right corner and selectingReport. If you use WhatsApp on Android, you may also open up your OS’s screen recorder app to capture the message.
This WhatsApp trick lets you send high-quality photos and videos in full resolution
If you’re tired of WhatsApp compressing your pics and videos, there’s good news for iPhone users. An update adds the option to send full-res media.
What you’re able to’t do is take a screenshot from within the enclosed environment (not that the visuals matter here, but you get the point). You also won’t be able to share or forward the message. WhatsApp accountbackups and transferswill include unlistened View Once messages, but the same rules as above apply if you’ve recently moved your data to a new device.
