WhatsApp has finally introduced disappearing messages which, when enabled for a contact, will automatically delete the message from both devices after seven days of being sent, the end-to-end encrypted platform said in an emailed statement. If a user does not open WhatsApp in that seven-day period, the message will disappear. This is unlike disappearing/self-destructing messages available in Signal and Telegram where the timer, at least for the recipient, starts after the recipient has seen the message. In one-to-one chats, either user can enable disappearing messages while in a group chat, only the group admins can control the feature, similar to the controls in Signal and Telegram. The feature will be rolled out to all WhatsApp users in the world this month, the statement said. This feature is not activated by default; users have to actively enable it. We could not test the disappearing messages at MediaNama. [caption id="attachment_224634" align="aligncenter" width="687"] How disappearing messages would work on WhatsApp. Courtesy: WhatsApp[/caption] Key features and how they differ from Signal, Telegram While in WhatsApp and Signal, disappearing messages are available for all one-to-one conversations, in Telegram users have to first enable “Secret Chat” which enables end-to-end encryption to make use of the “self-destructing” messages feature. WhatsApp and Signal are end-to-end encrypted by default. In WhatsApp, when disappearing messages are enabled, they will disappear after 7 days. Users cannot change this time. However, in Signal, users can set the time between 5 seconds to 1 week, and in Telegram, from 1 second to 1…
