WhatsApp has a privacy-focused and space-saving function called Disappearing Messages. When enabled, WhatsApp will automatically delete chat messages after 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days.
Using WhatsApp’s disappearing messages feature is similar to giving your texts an expiration date. The main goal of Disappearing Messages is to remove private, clandestine, or confidential messages from both your device and the devices of the recipients. Disappearing Messages is largely a privacy-focused tool, but it also helps you save space.
WhatsApp for mobile (iOS & Android), WhatsApp Web, and even WhatsApp Business all support the Disappearing Messages feature. We’ll demonstrate how to do it on these gadgets and operating systems.
Make WhatsApp Messages Disappear on Apple Devices
Both individual and group chat messages can be set to self-destruct. You can choose to enable the feature for individual chats or for all talks on WhatsApp.
Let’s go over the various methods for turning on Disappearing Messages for iPhones and iPads.
Enable Disappearing Messages for Individual Chats
Open WhatsApp, head to the “Chats” tab, and select the WhatsApp contact/user whose chat settings you want to modify.
- Tap the person’s name or phone number at the top of the screen to open the contact info page.
- Scroll to the bottom of the contact info page and select Disappearing Messages.
- In the “Message Timer” section, select the duration beyond which messages in the conversion will be deleted for both parties. There are three options—24 hours, 7 Days, and 90 Days
Update WhatsApp from the App Store, then recheck if you’re only seeing the “On” and “Off” options on the Disappearing Messages menu.
When you return to the chat window, you will see a warning that new messages will self-destruct after a predetermined amount of time. Conversations will still have messages delivered before disabling disappearing messages.
Keep in mind that if you enable Disappearing Messages, WhatsApp will also let the other person (or parties) in the chat know.
Quick Tip: Tap the notification to open the menu for the conversation’s disappearing messages. That enables you to alter the message timer or fast turn off disappearing messages.
Enable Disappearing Messages for Group Chats
Every member of a WhatsApp group has the ability to enable and disable Disappearing Messages. Choosing a message timer or expiration duration is as simple as opening the group info page, tapping Disappearing Messages, and choosing your options.
It’s interesting to note that non-administrative group members cannot modify the Disappearing Messages settings. To do this, access the group details page, select Only Admins under Edit Group Info under Group Settings, and then press Save.
Set Default Message Timer in WhatsApp
It can be difficult to manually enable Disappearing Messages for each individual and group conversation. The “Default Message Timer” option can be used in this situation. When enabled, the Default Message Timer turns on Disappearing Messages for all conversations—both private and public—in your WhatsApp accounts.
Select Account, Privacy, and Default Message Timer from the “Disappearing Messages” part of the WhatsApp Settings screen. To continue, select the time period you prefer for text erasure.
Alternatively, you can turn on the default message timer from the options menu of a single or group chat.
Open the contact information page for any chat, choose Disappearing Messages, and then select the option marked Default Message Timer at the page’s bottom. You’ll be taken to the “Default Message Timer” menu as a result. To continue, choose a preferred time frame for message deletion.
Make WhatsApp Messages Disappear in Android
What you intend to accomplish will determine the next actions. Do you want WhatsApp to delete certain (individual and group) chats messages on its own? Or do you want all WhatsApp conversations’ texts to disappear after a certain amount of time?
Learn how to activate WhatsApp’s disappearing messages feature in Android by reading the steps provided below.
Enable Disappearing Messages for Individual Chats
Open the chat, tap the contact’s name/phone number, select Disappearing messages, and choose a duration in the “Message timer” section.
When the chosen time period has passed, all additional messages (sent or received) in the conversation will be automatically removed.
WhatsApp will let everyone know that Disappearing Messages has been activated in the chat. To modify the deletion time or disable disappearing messages, tap the notification.
Enable Disappearing Messages for Group Chats
By default, all group participants have the liberty to enable and disable Disappearing messages. Here’s how to turn on Disappearing Messages in a WhatsApp group.
- Long-press the group chat, select the menu icon in the top-right corner, and tap Group info.
- Select Disappearing messages.
- Select how long you want messages stored in the group chat before they’re erased.
Enable Default Message Timer in WhatsApp
On your Android smartphone, do you want to enable Disappearing Messages for all WhatsApp conversations? Select the amount of time you want messages to remain on your device before being removed by opening the WhatsApp settings menu, and going to Account > Privacy > Default message timer.
Enable Disappearing Messages on WhatsApp Web
Set up WhatsApp Web on your computer and follow these steps to enable Disappearing Messages.
- Open a chat and select the contact name/phone number.
- Select Disappearing messages.
- Select On.
For group chats, follow the identical procedures: open the group info, choose Disappearing messages, and then click On.
WhatsApp Web doesn’t have pre-set message times, in contrast to mobile devices (i.e., 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days). For WhatsApp Web, the text deletion period is set at seven days.
When you (or the other person) enable or disable Disappearing Messages, WhatsApp will notify you. To rapidly navigate to the menu for the conversation’s disappearing messages, select the notification in the chat window.
Conclusion
WhatsApp advises only using Disappearing Messages for private chats with people you can trust. That’s because even after a message has been erased, individuals can still access or view it. For example, if a user forwards or quotes a message that is about to vanish, the message can still be there in the quoted text.
Users could also duplicate, copy, save, and screenshot messages that were about to vanish before they did. For more information about Disappearing Messages, visit this page in the WhatsApp Help Center.
