WhatsApp: This is why some of your old messages could soon disappear

If you are one of the two billion people worldwide who use messaging app WhatsApp, you will soon notice a new change in how texts work on the platform. The company is testing out a new feature that would make it possible for other users to delete your texts in group chats.

Unsend

The new feature which is yet to be rolled out is reportedly tied to the ‘Delete for Everyone’ feature, according to an article in The Sun. What this does is to allow you to ‘unsend’ messages you’ve already sent, causing them to disappear from the recipient’s phone.

However, tech investigators at WABetaInfo who keenly monitor the beta test version of WhatsApp to discover the latest changes, say this feature is being extended to group chats.

Now, a chat group administrator can delete an inappropriate or controversial message that someone in the group sends, ensuring that the text vanishes from the conversation. No one will be able to go back to the text once the group admin ‘unsends’ it, the article added. All group members will see is a simple note informing them that a message had been removed from the conversation.

Accessibility

At the moment, the feature is only running on the beta version of the app and isn’t available to all users yet. So if you are a beta app user, you can try it out and test it for yourself before it is released.

However, it remains unclear when the new feature will be fully rolled out; it could take days, weeks or even months before most users will notice the change on their apps.

Read more:

⋙ WhatsApp: You can now leave group chats quietly. Here's how

⋙ WhatsApp will fine you for sending these ‘banned’ messages

⋙ WhatsApp: Know when someone reads your message in the group chat