WhatsApp Rumors Say Timeframe to Delete 'Embarrassing' Messages Could Be Increased

Urian B., Tech Times 02 November 2021, 09:11 am

WhatsApp rumors could be increasing the time limit for users to delete certain "embarrassing" messages. The rumor is that users will be able to delete older messages that are over months old.

WhatsApp New Features

According to the story by AndroidPolice, WhatsApp could be the most ubiquitous messaging platform in the whole wide world. The app, however, might not be the first in line when it comes to getting brand new features.

It was stated that after the messaging platform took a lot of time to introduce options for users to delete messages themselves even after sending them, the company will now be further building out new features. WhatsApp competitors, however, are often coming out with new innovative features and the option to delete previous messages were already available for quite a while now.

WhatsApp Developers Cut-Off Time

Users might soon be able to delete any particular old messages that they want to delete and not just those that have been recently sent, according to an article by WABetaInfo. When WhatsApp initially introduced the initial option to delete older messages, it actually came with a strict time of eight minutes only.

Developers, however, have since extended that particular cut-off time to about an hour. As of the moment, it looks like this particular limitation could change in an upcoming version of the popular messaging platform WhatsApp. The company has previously received a $267 million fine for WhatsApp not being transparent regarding the company's data-sharing practices with Facebook.

Version 2.21.23.1

WABetaInfo is actually able to delete a message sent to as long as three months in the past even after digging directly into the latest beta's code, the known version 2.21.23.1. Like just any other under-development feature that has not yet officially rolled out just yet, this particular behavior could change before WhatsApp decides to push it to outlive.

As of the moment, all that is known is that the lack of the total time could be a bug. It could also be that developers are still experimenting with other different cut-off options within. The deadline for WhatsApp to stop working on 43 smartphones is already here as the company has previously given an announcement that the app will start working for a list of smartphones in November.

New Feature Demoed

Even if the upcoming feature goes live as initially demoed, it is still possible that only those messages sent after the said update will be eligible to be completely deleted. When it comes to the competition, Telegram has already long supported deleting messages for users and others.

The same feature is reportedly also available on Signal as well. In contrast to Telegram, which actually makes deleted messages disappear without leaving any obvious trace, WhatsApp leaves a note that a certain message has been deleted coming from the chat.

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Written by Urian B.