Overview
- In mid-June reporters and feature tracker findings identified references to a view-once text option inside WhatsApp's iOS TestFlight beta (version 26.24.10.16).
- Users would trigger the feature by long-pressing the Send button and choosing “Send as view once,” allowing the recipient to open the text only one time before it becomes inaccessible.
- WhatsApp plans to apply the same in-app safeguards used for view-once media, blocking copy, forward and share functions and preventing screenshots or screen recordings inside the app, though a second device could still photograph the screen.
- The feature is being developed for individual chats and groups but not for Channels, and it is not yet enabled for beta testers or given an official release date.
- The change would formalize a common user workaround—sending ephemeral text as a caption on a view-once image—and extend WhatsApp's existing privacy tools that already include disappearing messages and end-to-end encryption.