n August, a beta version of WhatsApp contained the first evidence of the ability to reverse the “Delete for Me” action.
A new feature that WhatsApp has announced it is introducing may be useful if users mistakenly select Delete for Me instead of Delete for Everyone when using the app. The new “unintentional delete” function of the messaging service owned by Meta gives users a 5-second option to undo their deletion of the message for themselves before letting them undo it for everyone else. On iPhone and Android mobile devices, the capability is accessible in both solo and group chats.
The messaging service tested the option to undo the action of deleting a message with some Android and iOS testers on the beta version of the app, WABetaInfo first reported in August. The company tweeted on Tuesday that the service is currently rolling out to all users.
The messaging app included the Delete for Everyone feature in 2017 to allow users to unsend a message from everyone in a chat if they sent it by accident. The rollout was initially only permitted for 7 minutes, but in August it was extended to 60 hours.
The voice-over-IP and instant messaging service is currently developing a “extreme” variation of the option that it added in 2020, when communications vanish.
The messaging platform is developing view-once text messages, which will be akin to the iOS and Android features for transmitting photos and movies that can only be viewed once. The function was discovered in WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.22.25.20. Such messages cannot be shared or forwarded once they are sent by a user.
The view-once functionality for photographs and videos can presently be activated by selecting an image or video to share and then tapping on the circular “1” icon to the right of the caption field. According to WABetaInfo, the app may introduce a unique send button icon with an extra padlock for text messages with the view-once functionality; however, once the feature exits beta, the design may change.
