While WhatsApp is working on a feature that let people prevent certain disappearing messages to expire in a future update of the app, the company is now rolling out to all users some changes to the way media from disappearing chats is automatically saved on your device on the latest beta and public builds of WhatsApp for Android and iOS.
| Common questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Name of the feature? | Changes to media visibility |
| Status? | Rolling out |
| Compatibility? | Recent versions of WhatsApp for Android and iOS are compatible. |
| I have installed the latest beta update, but the changes are not visible. Why? | WhatsApp is rolling out the changes to all users on the latest updates of WhatsApp for Android and iOS and full activation to everyone may happen within the next 24 hours. |
| Thanks: | MahTF, Sniper, FastenM, TheNewsHQ, Sphinix, and Sc for testing and reporting! |
| Previous news? | WhatsApp beta for iOS 22.8.0.73: what’s new? WhatsApp is releasing new drawing tools to some people on WhatsApp beta for iOS! |
CHANGES TO MEDIA VISIBILITY
In the article about the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.22.4.14 update, we talked about a new feature that prevents auto-saving media to your phone's gallery for disappearing chats. Today, WhatsApp is rolling out the changes to media visibility to all users on WhatsApp for Android and iOS!
As you can see in this screenshot, WhatsApp is now automatically turning off the option "media visibility" for disappearing chats on WhatsApp for Android, which let people view media in their phone's gallery. This is to ensure a better privacy experience when using disappearing messages and to help keep media more private in disappearing chat threads. In addition, WhatsApp is rolling out the same change on WhatsApp for iOS, where the option "Save to Camera Roll" is automatically turned off for disappearing chats. What is the difference? In this case, images, videos, and GIFs are never automatically saved in your camera roll if the general setting is enabled.
Note that you can still save media manually in disappearing chats: some users on certain versions of Android already have an option to manually save media. On WhatsApp for iOS, you can save media as normally you do.
The changes are rolled out to all users on beta and public builds and they should appear within 24 hours.
Follow WABetaInfo on Twitter to always be up to date about WhatsApp news, and you can discover all other changes implemented on WhatsApp beta for Android, iOS, Web/Desktop, Windows!
Let us know on Twitter if you like this article and you can visit this page to discover where you can find WABetaInfo!
WABetaInfo has a Discord Server about WhatsApp, where you can chat and give advice, ask for help, and read my announcements!