WhatsApp lets you save disappearing messages (with a catch)

Hold up, the sender has to approve.
 By 
Meera Navlakha
 on 
Two phone screens displaying WhatsApp.
Credit: WhatsApp.

WhatsApp has introduced a significant update to disappearing messages that allows users to hang onto these fleeting texts for later — with a caveat.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announce the new feature, called Keep in Chat, on Facebook on Friday.

Essentially, the sender will be notified if someone wants to keep a disappearing message, the feature rolled out by WhatsApp in Nov. 2020. The sender will have final say in whether they can save it or not. If someone decides they don't want their message saved, their decision is final and the message will disappear once the timer expires.


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WhatsApp has deemed this the "sender superpower." The messages given the go-ahead to be saved will be visible with a bookmark icon and can be accessed in the app's Kept Messages folder.

The feature will roll out globally over the next few weeks.

Topics WhatsApp

Mashable Image
Meera Navlakha

Meera is a journalist based between London and New York. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Vice, The Independent, Vogue India, W Magazine, and others. She was previously a Culture Reporter at Mashable. 

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