WhatsApp is rolling out a function that may stop media from being robotically saved to the smartphone’s gallery or Camera Roll, when disappearing messages are enabled in a chat. The encrypted messaging service will nonetheless enable customers to manually save media despatched in disappearing chats. The firm has additionally been noticed engaged on new picture enhancing instruments on the newest beta model of its iOS app — with the addition of two new pencil instruments to annotate or markup pictures earlier than sending them on WhatsApp.

The Meta-owned messaging service has begun rolling out a change to the best way media is saved on disappearing chats, as spotted by WhatsApp options tracker WABetaInfo. Users on the newest variations of WhatsApp for Android and iOS will now see a message explaining that the “media visibility” function has been turned off for chats with disappearing messages enabled. The function was first noticed in improvement in February.

WhatsApp is notifying customers of the change to the “message visibility” setting
Photo Credit: Screenshot/ WhatsApp

WhatsApp’s disappearing messages function is designed to take away messages from each the sender and recipient’s smartphones after a set interval, and customers can select amongst three choices for disappearing chats — 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days. Messages, pictures, movies, GIFs, and different attachments despatched in disappearing chats are robotically deleted, and the newest replace now disables the function to robotically save all media despatched in disappearing chats.

When customers faucet on the media visibility setting in disappearing chats, WhatsApp now reveals a popup notification that informs customers that messages within the chat are set to vanish. “For privacy reasons, media is not auto-saved to your phone’s gallery. To save media from this chat, turn off disappearing messages,” the notification says. Gadgets 360 was in a position to verify that the function was disabled in chats the place disappearing messages have been enabled, on the newest variations of WhatsApp for Android and iOS.

Users will nonetheless be capable to choose particular person pictures and save them to their Camera Roll on iOS, whereas Android customers on some variations of WhatsApp can even be capable to manually save media, in response to the function tracker. Gadgets 360 was in a position to manually save pictures from WhatsApp chats with disappearing messages enabled on the newest Android and iOS apps.

WhatsApp is engaged on new drawing instruments on the newest iOS beta
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

Meanwhile, the newest WhatsApp for iOS beta model has begun testing a redesigned media editor for some customers — that is additionally anticipated to reach in a future WhatsApp for Android beta construct, in response to the function tracker. The replace provides two new pencil drawing instruments, positioned on the backside of the display screen. A blur instrument has additionally been added to the underside of the media editor, close to the brand new drawing instruments. These adjustments are solely seen to some customers on the newest beta model of WhatsApp for iOS and may very well be rolled out to all customers at a later date.