WhatsApp will stop saving media from disappearing messages — here’s how you can still save photos and videos on your phone

• WhatsApp is reportedly working on an update to disappearing messages.
• This will prevent the app from saving media from disappearing messages.
• Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming update from WhatsApp.

WhatsApp had started testing disappearing messages in 2020 and the complete rollout began last year. The feature was aimed at offering users more control over messages and text shared is retained by the other users.

One of the flaws of this feature was that WhatsApp was auto-saving the media on the device, rendering the disappearing messages feature useless. According to a report by WaBetaInfo, WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new update that will rectify this.

The new feature was spotted in the Android 2.22.4.14 and should be available to all users soon.

WhatsApp will now stop auto-saving media from the chats and groups in which disappearing messages have been turned on. This will make the chats more secure and will make the disappearing messages feature more useful.

Here’s how you can still save photos and videos

However, users will still be able to manually save photos and videos from chats and groups where disappearing messages have been turned on. So, this feature is still not completely foolproof. Then again, you can always take a screenshot if you wish to retain media, something which cannot be done on apps like Snapchat as they inform the sender that you have taken a screenshot.

Other upcoming features

A recent report has revealed that WhatsApp is also working on a feature that will limit the number of times you can send a forwarded message to group chats to one. This is aimed at reducing spam and preventing the spread of misinformation.

The Facebook-owned messaging app is also working on bringing reactions to the app. This will allow you to reply to messages with reactions, similar to the reaction button on Facebook.

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