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WhatsApp is all set to roll out a feature that will allow users to have photos or videos vanish after they are seen.
Once the recipient opens the image for the first time, "view once" deletes it, without saving it in the mobile phone.
WhatsApp states that this new feature was all aimed at "giving users even more control over their privacy".
However, child protection advocates have showed thair concern that auto-vanishing messages could help cover up evidence of child sexual abuse. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is already in clash with WhatsApp's parent company Facebook over the usage of encrypted messaging. Such encryption means police cannot see the messages "in transit" - only the sender and receiver will be able to see. However auto-deleting messages could mean that devices seized in police raids would no longer contain evidence.
"This view once feature could put children at even greater risk by giving offenders another tool to avoid detection and erase evidence, when efforts to combat child sexual abuse are already hindered by end-to-end encryption," said Alison Trew, the charity's senior online safety officer.
WhatsApp is marketing view once as a privacy feature for regular consumers, for example could be used for throwaway yet personal photos, when trying on clothes in a shop and asking a partner how they looked, or also when sending someone a password.
"Not everything we share needs to become a permanent digital record," it says. "On many phones, simply taking a photo means it will take up space in your camera roll forever."
And it is rolling out the feature to "everyone starting this week".
Users will know a message is "view once" because the preview will not be available and a large "1" icon will be displayed instead.
Pretty much like vanishing messages on other apps such as Snapchat, it is however possible for a user to take a screenshot or screen recording of the message when it is first opened or to even film one screen with another camera.
The feature also comes with limitations:
The photos will not be saved in a phone's gallery app
The media cannot be forwarded, saved, shared, or starred
It will expire if not opened within two weeks
WhatsApp also introduced a disappearing-messages function in November 2020. It erases text messages for both the sender and recipient after seven days and is one of the areas of concern for a legal challenges though.
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