WhatsApp rolls out 'View Once' feature where media vanishes after viewing

The feature lets photos and videos to disappear from the chat after they have been seen, earlier Facebook said in a blog post on Tuesday, adding that once the media content has been viewed, the message will be shown as "opened."

The new update allow a photo or video to disappear once the receiver opens it and leaves the chat and can be viewed only once.

The sent media will disappear from the chat once a user closes the photo/video.

To send a photo/video in View Once mode, WhatsApp user needs to first select the media and tap on the clock-like icon. It will be available near the ‘Add a caption’ bar.

WhatsApp will notify the sender when the recipient opens the media.

Once the media is opened, WhatsApp will display the following message to the recipient: “This Photo is set to view once. For more privacy, this photo will disappear after you close it”.

However, the sender cannot see when the recipient opens the message.

The feature works for videos, photos and GIFs.

For group chats, WhatsApp users can still see when other participants open expiring photos even if they have disabled read receipts. In case the recipient saves the photo/video or takes screenshots/video captures, WhatsApp will not notify the sender because there isn’t screenshot detection.

Blocked contacts in common groups can still open photos and videos sent with the view once feature.

In case a user sends a photo using view once to people that haven’t this feature enabled, the view once feature will still work and they can only view it once.

If the view once button is not visible to users when sharing the media with anyone, then it means that you haven’t received the feature.