What is a WhatsApp Disappearing Message? How it works, How to Enable or Disable

WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messaging applications worldwide, with over 100 billion messages sent per day. WhatsApp has lots of different features, and added to its roster is disappearing messages.

In this article, we dig deeper into WhatsApp’s disappearing messages feature.

What are disappearing messages in WhatsApp?

Disappearing messages are temporary messages which disappear after a specified time. Currently, WhatsApp disappearing messages last a maximum of seven days. Th feature applies to any message, a video, text, and even photos and GIFs. Any text sent as a disappearing message will be automatically deleted after seven days.

After the message is deleted, there’s no way of recovering it. Disappearing messages are automatically deleted for both the sender and the receiver. WhatsApp will allow users to choose if they turn the feature on or not.

How disappearing messages in WhatsApp work

Short-lived messaged will be automatically deleted after seven days, but the story doesn’t end there. When you send a message, WhatsApp gives it a timer, after which the message will disappear. But there are a few exceptions.

For instance, if the recipient does not open the message in the seven-day window period, it will disappear in WhatsApp. However, they can still preview it via the notifications.

If a disappearing message is quoted in a chat, it might remain available after seven days. These are the disadvantages of using disappearing messages in WhatsApp.

If enabled, new messages sent in either individual or group chats will disappear after precisely seven days. Old messages won’t be affected by the toggle.

How WhatsApp Disappearing Messages Work in Groups

WhatsApp’s short-lived messages work uniquely in groups. In individual chats, you can enable the feature by yourself as you wish. But in WhatsApp groups, only group admins can turn disappearing messages on or off. Even if you have disappearing messages enabled, it will not apply to a WhatsApp group with the feature disabled.

When Disappearing Messages in WhatsApp Don’t Work

WhatsApp’s disappearing message feature won’t necessarily prevent the other person from having a copy of the message after the seven days. That is an important thing to note. For instance, when the message is quoted, when the recipient doesn’t open the chat for seven days, they might even forward or copy the message.

How to Ensure You Have A Copy of a Deleted Disappearing WhatsApp Messages

However, there a couple of loopholes that ensure you still have a copy of a disappearing message after seven days.

To ensure you always have a copy, you can take a screenshot, copy or forward the message to your other WhatsApp contact. You can also create a cloud backup of your WhatsApp account.

Let’s go deeper into each.

What Happens when someone backs up WhatsApp Disappearing Messages?

Like other WhatsApp messages, disappearing messages will be backed up to the cloud if you’ve set automatic backups. If you create a cloud backup before the message disappears, you will be able to access it even after it vanishes from your WhatsApp account. However, as soon as you restore the disappearing messages from a cloud backup, they will be automatically deleted. So the best way to view them is to open them using a compatible app that can open the backup file.

What Happens when someone quotes a Disappearing Message in WhatsApp?

Another unique instance is when someone quotes replies to a disappearing message. Like other regular WhatsApp messages, the initial message will be included in the quote. That means that even if the original message disappears, someone may be able to see it via the reply.

What happens when someone forwards a WhatsApp disappearing message?

When someone forwards a disappearing message to another chat, it might or might not vanish after the seven days. That depends on whether the chat the message is forwarded to has disappearing messages turned on or off.

When a disappearing message is forwarded to a chat with disappearing messages off, the message won’t disappear in the forwarded chat. In case the chat has the feature turned on, the message will disappear.

What happens to Photos, Videos, and GIFs in disappearing messages?

By default WhatsApp automatically downloads media received, adding it to your photos.

If you’ve turned disappearing messages on WhatsApp on, media sent in the chat will disappear as expected. But it will still be saved on the phone if auto-download is on. It’s unlikely that someone will have media auto-download turned off. That means WhatsApp’s disappearing messages feature won’t be useful in this regard.