WhatsApp has introduced a new ability that lets users save a received disappearing messages if the sender consents. The feature is rolling out, and will be doing so over the next few weeks, it’s a staged rollout..
WhatsApp disappearing messages have been around since August 2021. This way of messaging is great for sending sensitive information and keeping everything safe. However, this burn-after-reading policy is going to change with the future update to WhatsApp.
The Meta-owned messaging app wants to allow a recipient to save a disappearing message with a long press. The feature makes it easier for the person to later to return to the message. Of course, there is a catch here. The sender of that disappearing message receives a notice that informs him about the recipient’s intent to save the message. The sender can accept or reject the request.
WhatsApp will allow everyone to save disappearing messages, under one condition
WhatsApp described the feature as a “sender superpower,” as it allows the sender to decide whether the recipient can save the message.
“If you’ve decided your message can’t be kept by others, your decision is final, no one else can keep it, and the message will be deleted when the timer expires,” WhatsApp said. “This way, you have the final say on how messages you send are protected.”
As you can see in the screenshot below, once you want to save a disappearing message and the sender consents to it, a bookmark icon appears at the top edge that allows you to do so. The message will be saved to the Kept Messages folder.
The ability to save a disappearing message might seem odd at first. Because if the sender initially had enough confidence in the recipient, there would be no need to send the message in a disappearing form. It also contradicts the burn-after-reading policy that the whole feature is created around it.