The messenger has previously introduced a similar feature called Disappearing Messages in beta version 2.19.282, but it’s just working on that development. Now, it has renamed this development into Delete Messages and is expected to roll out soon, maybe in the next update. This leak was first announced by WABetaInfo, a fan site which stands early to reveal and test new WhatsApp features. It revealed in its post as, this feature is released in next update, can be enabled in Contact Info or Group Settings. If it’s in Groups, only the Admin has the authority of doing so. It works as a simple toggle switch to enable/disable it. If enabled, the message would delete itself after a specified time. The time span can be set as wished, either for an hour, day, week, month or a year. While you could manually delete messages currently, that’s just for a given time, say few minutes. Now you could put a timer to it to automatically let them get deleted when the clock hits.
Rival Competition
Its competitors like Facebook’s Messenger, Tencent’s WeChat, Telegram, Line etc are having many features than WhatsApp, yet this American native messenger was a hit due to its simplicity. Tencent’s WeChat facilitates payments, shopping etc, Telegram is already having this self-destructive messages since a long time and even has bots to automate replies. Line, Viber, IMO are enough popular amongst their regions. And to WhatsApp, if wants to stay above them, has to introduce such features periodically. Currently, in version 2.19.341, we have to wait for the next update as 2.19.348 to experience this new feature. This is estimated by WABetaInfo in its blog. Source: WABetaInfo
