As T3 reported earlier this week, WhatsApp has been on a roll lately in terms of delivering new feature updates to users, and now we've just had word of yet another new WhatsApp feature heading to Samsung Galaxy phone users first before it goes mainstream.
That feature is 90-day disappearing messages, which joins 24-hour disappearing message functionality as something that WhatsApp is currently working on for introduction in the app, and augments the current disappearing message functionality available to everyone, which is 7 days.
As can be seen below, right now any WhatsApp user has access to a 7-day disappearing message function that, once enabled on a specific chat, will mean all messages and media in that chat get erased after a 7-day time period has elapsed. This feature is great for people who are concerned about privacy, or who may want sensitive chats deleted once they've been finished.
Right now you can set WhatsApp messages to disappear after 7 days. New 24-hour and 90-day options are incoming, too.
In the new version of the app, though, which is currently live in the WhatsApp beta program and is reportedly coming shortly to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 first, before being rolled out to everyone, that 7-day option is joined by both 24 hours and 90 days, with the menu displaying like this:
90 days
7 days
24 hours
Off
For those interested in disappearing messages, and want to give the already live 7-day option a try, this is how you enable it.
First, click on a chat that you'd like to see message for disappear after 7 days. Next click on the three dots menu button on the top-right on the screen and then select "Group info". Within the Group info menu then click on the "Disappearing messages" option.
You will then be presented with with an info screen telling you how disappearing messages works. Click continue and then you will unlock the disappearing messages menu screen, which will look like the right-hand image above. Then simply click the "On" button and you will have turned on disappearing messages for this chat.
This should then give you a taste of the functionality before the 24-hour and 90-day options go live shortly. As we noted above, Samsung Galaxy owners are reported to be getting this update first, with other Android and iPhone users following shortly afterward.
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