Users won’t have the option to change the duration
The Disappearing Messages feature has to be enabled separately for each chat window — individual or group conversations — and can be accessed by clicking the name of the individual contact or the group on WhatsApp. When enabled, the new messages sent by a user will disappear for the selected contacts after seven days. However, the preview of disappearing messages might display in notifications until WhatsApp is opened on the receiving devices. Disappearing messages that are forwarded to a new chat window, which has the option turned off, won't be removed either. And when a user replies to a disappearing message, the quoted text might also remain in the chat after seven days.
Users receiving the messages can also still copy the text and take screenshots of the messages within seven days. Disappearing messages will also land in user backups but will be deleted after the user restores messages from it. Given that there are many ways to retain chats shared through disappearing messages, it seems more like an option to clear up conversations than a feature to share information that deletes automatically.
The messaging app also rolled out a storage management tool to its platform, making it easier for users to manage space on their devices, it announced on Twitter.
Users can click on Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage to review, bulk delete and free up space.
This comes after WhatsApp's 2 billion users complained about the lack of space on the messaging app. The feature will roll out to users worldwide by the end of this week.
