How to save the unsaveable.
getty
What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone, Apple famously tells its users. But sometimes even that isn’t good enough and you want content to disappear, making sure it doesn’t “stay” anywhere. But there’s a crafty workaround.
So it is with WhatsApp’s forthcoming update, which “will let messages disappear after being read.” It’s still in development and pre-release, and will come first to Android. But at some point it will turn up on your iPhone.
ForbesGoogle Starts Scanning All Your Photos As New Update Goes LiveBy Zak Doffman
This adds to the disappearing or “view once” media and voice messages that WhatsApp already offers iPhone users, similar to features available on Signal and elsewhere to ensure chat databases and cloud backups don’t store sensitive messages outside the control of those that have sent them.
Mirroring disappearing iPhone messages on a Mac.
@UKZak
But Apple offers an inadvertent workaround to save this content if you want to. All you need is a Mac, which you can use to “mirror” your iPhone screen. If you view disappearing content in the mirror, you can screenshot it on your Mac.
WhatsApp already warns that “there are other ways your view once media or voice message can be saved or recorded. For example, recipients can take a photo or video of your view once media with a camera or other device before it disappears.” But the Mac screenshot option is the neatest way to capture a digital copy.
Instantly disappearing messages.
WABetaInfo
With the forthcoming feature, WhatsApp leaker WABetaInfo says users can set a new disappearing message timer to “After Reading.” This will “make it easier for users to ensure their messages disappear immediately after being seen.” And even if the messages remain unread, “they will automatically disappear after 24 hours.”
ForbesSamsung Shuts Down Messaging In 10 Weeks—Bad News For RCSBy Zak Doffman
WABetaInfo gives an example: “If Mark sends a message to Chris using ‘After Reading.’, the message will vanish from Mark’s chat 15 minutes after being sent. Once Chris reads it, the message will disappear from his conversation after 15 minutes.” If Chris has a Mac, though, they may not disappear at all.