WhatsApp has announced a new privacy feature that extends the functionality of its View Once tool. Before this, you could only send photos and videos through View Once, which automatically deletes the content after being viewed by the recipient. Now, voice messages can also be sent as a View Once message.
When a voice note is sent as View Once, it will be marked with the familiar “one-time” icon and will disappear after being played one time. Just like with almost everything else on the platform, the voice messages are end-to-end encrypted by default.
Last year, WhatsApp added screenshot blocking to the feature in order to increase the privacy of media meant to be ephemeral, but of course, this wouldn’t apply to voice notes. With that, you should keep in mind that there’s nothing to stop the recipient from recording the message through the speakers using another device, so you should still practice a fair amount of precaution before sending sensitive information using this feature.
According to the Meta-owned app, View Once voice messages will be rolling out globally over the coming days. In related news, the company also brought back the View Once feature for its web and desktop clients after removing them last year.
(Source: WhatsApp press release / official blog)
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