Overview
- Independent tracker WABetaInfo found code for a view-once text option in WhatsApp’s Android beta assets published in early June, and that finding has been reported by other outlets.
- The planned workflow would let users enable view-once for a single message by long-pressing the Send button and choosing a “Send as view once” option from a menu.
- WhatsApp’s reported in-app protections would stop recipients from copying, forwarding, or saving the message after it is opened and would try to block screenshots and screen recordings.
- Those safeguards would not stop an external camera from capturing the message, and WhatsApp has not released the feature to beta testers or given a public timeline for rollout.
- The change would extend WhatsApp’s existing view-once tools for photos, videos and voice notes and could reduce common ways people preserve sensitive text such as passwords or personal details.