>
WhatsApp users will soon have the option to set an expiration date for their group chats, a leaker claims.
When this date is reached, they will be asked to clean up some of the older messages or delete the chat entirely.
This is meant to be a space saving solution as the app is known to take up a lot of a device’s memory by holding messages that go back years.
It can also help users keep their WhatsApp more organized by removing “zombie” chats that are no longer relevant, such as temporary chats created for specific events.
Any messages or chats deleted in this way will only disappear from the device of the person who set the expiration date.
WhatsApp users will soon have the option to set an expiration date for their group chats, a leaker claims. When this date is reached, they will be asked to clean up some of the older messages or delete the chat completely
Other recipients of the messages will still have access until they choose to delete them as well.
A smart user spotted the feature using an as yet unreleased WhatsApp update currently being tested through the Google Play Beta program.
This is a subscription service that gives Android users exclusive access to new versions of the apps available on the Google Play Store.
While this particular feature isn’t currently available to testers, the WhatsApp beta will allow them to see the ones currently in development, according to WABetaInfo.
The leaker has taken a screenshot of the ‘Expiring Group’ screen that will be visible on Android devices.
This shows the options users have about how much time they want to pass before they get the expiration prompt, a month, a week or now.
There is also an option to receive the ‘now’ prompt, which suggests that the user should not just manually delete each message or chat, as can be done with the current version of WhatsApp.
In March, a similar “Expiring Groups” feature was seen through the Apple version of the Google Play Beta program; TestFlight Beta Program.
Again, the feature wasn’t made available to testers because it was still in development, but they had access to details about what it would look like if it was there.
Screenshots of WABetaInfo shows that there will be a “Custom Date” option, as well as the one in the Android version.
It also allows users to remove the expiration date before it’s reached, in case they change their mind.
The details of this feature may change in both iOS and Android versions of WhatsApp before release.
In March, a similar “Expiring Groups” feature was seen through the Apple version of the Google Play Beta program; TestFlight Beta Program
Expiring Groups will be available in WhatsApp version 2.23.8.11 when beta testing begins and will be made available with the Google Play Beta program.
WhatsApp recently added new features to the unreleased version of the app that is currently available to testers.
These include the addition of a companion mode, that allows more than one smartphone or other device to log into one account.
Another is ‘locked chats’ which can only be accessed through the user’s biometric data, such as a fingerprint or passcode.
This feature comes just a month after WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said he would rather ban the app in the UK than remove end-to-end encryption
The news comes just a month after WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said he would rather ban the app in the UK than remove its end-to-end encryption.
The government may soon ban this security feature, which encrypts the content of messages to protect them from hackers, through the online safety law.
This legislation could require technology companies to scan the content of messages sent through their social platforms for illegal content.
However, this would likely force them to weaken or abolish their own security measures.
WhatsApp cannot see messages sent through its own service, so it cannot comply with requests from law enforcement to, for example, transfer them for anti-terror purposes or to identify and remove child abuse material.
Mr Cathcart said that undermining the privacy of WhatsApp messages in the UK would do so to all its users worldwide.
“There’s no way to turn it into just one part of the world,” he said.
“Some countries have chosen to block it: that’s the reality of sending a safe product.
“For example, we were recently blocked in Iran. But we’ve never seen a liberal democracy do that.’
He added: “The reality is that our users around the world want security.
“Ninety-eight percent of our users are outside the UK. They don’t want us to lower the security of the product, and to be clear, it would be a strange choice for us to choose to lower the security of the product in a way that would affect those 98 percent of the users. ‘
Mr Cathcart was critical of the online security law in September, saying it was ‘mysterious’ that governments wanted to weaken security, not strengthen it.
The UK government stressed that the bill “does not represent a ban on end-to-end encryption” and that “we can and must have both privacy and child safety.”
But it also doesn’t explicitly state how it would be possible to check the content of messages and continue encryption, creating a “grey area.”