I ephemeral messages of WhatsApp are one of the latest innovations introduced by the well-known messaging application. Users can in fact send temporary messages, i.e. communications that disappear after 7 days. They are not quite like James Bond’s self-destructing letters but they may have their usefulness. But what if it wasn’t just the messages that disappeared? What if entire chats were ephemeral?
WhatsApp: from ephemeral messages to self-deleting chats
According to what is reported by the site WaBetaInfo, the latest beta of WhatsApp for iOS includes the Disappearing Mode, dedicated to chats and groups.
Once the mode is activated – it will appear in Settings / Privacy -, all new chats will be ephemeral and destined to disappear after 7 days. Of course, the contacts with whom you initiate this type of conversation will be promptly informed, so both parties will have all the necessary information before continuing to chat.
So what changes compared to the functionality already available today? Actually little. Self-deleting messages are embedded in persistent chats, so the conversation remains but the single sentence disappears. Ephemeral chats, on the other hand, are born as conversations that include only ephemeral messages, therefore everything is destined to disappear.
Are you curious to try the new feature? At the moment there is no indication on the official release of ephemeral chats. We only know that the developers are hard at work implementing this option.
Ephemeral does not mean invisible
A little clarification: ephemeral messages “self-destruct” after 7 days. They do not disappear as soon as they are read and as a result can be preserved in some way. Users are in fact free to take a screenshot, copy the content or even take a photo using another device.
So what’s the point of this feature? And most importantly, what sense would there be entire chats that disappear? Actually the basic idea is to help you do some self-cleaning. Fewer items to back up, fewer conversations to scroll through, less space on the cloud or smartphone. In conclusion, it is a tool that helps to maintain order and cleanliness rather than hiding some burning secrets.