WhatsApp warns your ‘disappearing messages’ can STILL be saved by contacts – and here are the seven ways

WHATSAPP has warned that its self-destructing messages can still be read even after deletion.

It means you should still be very careful about what you send – even if your message is set to destroy itself.

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WhatsApp recently added a feature that lets you send texts that vanish after a set amount of time.

It works a bit like Snapchat messages, boosting your privacy by killing off potentially sensitive messages.

When you enable disappearing messages, they vanish after seven days – though messages sent prior to changing settings won’t be affected.

But there are at least seven ways someone could capture your message before it’s deleted.

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First, the preview of the message could still be displayed in notifications until the WhatsApp app is opened.

Secondly, if your message is quoted, the quoted text could still remain in the chat.

Third, if a self-destructing text is forwarded to a chat with disappearing messages turned off, it won’t be deleted.

Fourth, if a user creates a back-up before a message disappears, then that message will be included in the backup.

However, the message will be deleted if the user restores their WhatsApp from the backup.

A recipient can also go out of their way to capture your messages.

Someone could forward or take a screenshot of your disappearing message before it’s deleted.

They could also copy and save content from the message before it vanishes.

And it’s also possible to take a photo of a message using a camera before it disappears.

There’s also an extra note about photos and videos that you need to consider.

“By default, media you receive in WhatsApp will be automatically downloaded to your photos,” said WhatsApp.

“If disappearing messages are turned on, media sent in the chat will disappear, but will be saved on the phone if auto-download is on.”

Thankfully, you can turn this feature off in WhatsApp Settings > Data and Storage Usage.

As always, the best advice is to consider whether a sensitive message is worth sending at all.

Once something is on the internet – or someone else’s device – it becomes extremely difficult to remove.

How to send disappearing messages

Here’s what to do:

• Open the WhatsApp chat
• Tap the contact’s name
• Tap Disappearing Messages
• If prompted, tap Continue
• Select On

You can disable it using the same method.

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In other news, check out our iPhone 12 review.

If you’ve got more money to burn, you’ll want to read the iPhone 12 Pro review instead.

Or you could take a gander at the Apple Watch 6 review if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your wrist.

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