{"id":457762,"date":"2026-05-20T04:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/457762\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T04:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T04:03:09","slug":"whatsapp-working-on-messages-that-disappear-once-youve-read-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/457762\/","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp working on messages that disappear once you\u2019ve read them"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t<img width=\"1600\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/whatsapp-ios-26.jpg\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"  decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>WhatsApp users will soon be able to set disappearing messages to vanish after the recipient has read them. Here are the details.<\/p>\n<p>Burn after reading<\/p>\n<p>As spotted by <a href=\"https:\/\/wabetainfo.com\/whatsapp-beta-for-ios-26-19-10-72-whats-new\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WABetaInfo<\/a>, the latest WhatsApp beta build on TestFlight includes a new setting for disappearing messages that lets users set them to vanish after the recipient reads them.<\/p>\n<p>From the report:<\/p>\n<p>With the new \u201cAfter reading\u201d option, WhatsApp is bringing a new layer of privacy to disappearing messages. When users configure the message timer, they can choose to make their messages disappearing once they\u2019re read. However, unread messages always disappear after 24 hours by default. Users who choose this option can also configure a timer for \u201cAfter reading\u201d. Specifically, they can choose whether their messages disappear 5 minutes, 1 hour, or 12 hours after the recipient reads them.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the \u201cAfter reading\u201d option currently appears in WhatsApp\u2019s \u201cDefault message timer\u201d setting, even though it works differently from the existing time-based options, such as 24 hours, 7 days, and 90 days.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"725\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/whatsapp-disappear-after-reading.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1052797\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wabetainfo.com\/whatsapp-beta-for-ios-26-19-10-72-whats-new\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WABetaInfo<\/a> says that the \u201cfeature is available to some beta testers,\u201d but notes that \u201ca limited number of users may also be able to test the feature even through the version available on the App Store.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As WhatsApp explains, disappearing messages can be enabled either for individual chats or for all new chats by default, serving both as an added privacy setting and as a way to save storage space on the device. You can learn more about WhatsApp\u2019s disappearing messages feature <a href=\"https:\/\/faq.whatsapp.com\/5590979194321336\/?cms_platform=web\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Back to WABetaInfo\u2019s report, the feature is also available in WhatsApp\u2019s Android beta, suggesting it may not be too far from a broader release.<\/p>\n<p>To read WABetaInfo\u2018s report, <a href=\"https:\/\/wabetainfo.com\/whatsapp-beta-for-ios-26-19-10-72-whats-new\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">follow this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Worth checking out on Amazon<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/9to5mac.com\" aria-label=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"google-preferred-source-badge-dark\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757113987_717_google-preferred-source-badge-dark.png\" alt=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"google-preferred-source-badge-light\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757113987_373_google-preferred-source-badge-light.png\" alt=\"Add 9to5Mac as a preferred source on Google\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"disclaimer-affiliate\">FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. <a href=\"https:\/\/9to5mac.com\/about\/#affiliate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WhatsApp users will soon be able to set disappearing messages to vanish after the recipient has read them.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80],"class_list":["post-457762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}