Friends, in today’s modern era, WhatsApp is the most popular app of instant messaging, which has more than 4 billion users all over the world, WhatsApp brings many features for its users, recently, the company is reportedly working on a new privacy tool named “After Reading”. This feature will automatically delete the message immediately after the recipient reads it, which will give users more control over their personal conversations, let’s know about this feature.

How will the “After Reading” feature work?

The idea behind this feature is quite simple and focused on privacy. When a user turns on the “After Reading” option while sending a message, the message will automatically disappear immediately after the recipient views it.

The highlights of this feature are as follows:

Auto delete after reading: When the recipient opens the message, a 15-minute countdown will start.

The message will be removed from both chats: After the timer expires, the message will be deleted from the chat history of both the sender and the recipient.

Rule of unread messages: If the recipient doesn’t open the message, it will remain visible for 24 hours before automatically disappearing.

Currently in development stage: The feature was spotted in WhatsApp Beta version 2.26.12.2 for Android, but it hasn’t even been released to beta testers yet.

Why would this feature be useful?

This upcoming feature is expected to be especially beneficial for users who share confidential or time-sensitive information through messages. For example:

One-Time Password (OTP)

Password or login details

verification code

private addresses or sensitive information

Currently, messages on WhatsApp remain in chats until they are manually deleted or sent using the “Disappearing Messages” option.

This will still work if “Read Receipts” are turned off

Another interesting thing is that the “After Reading” feature will work even when “Read Receipts” (blue tick) are turned off. This means that the timer will still start after the message is opened, regardless of the user’s privacy settings. Currently, WhatsApp’s ‘Disappearing Messages’ feature offers timer options of 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days.