WhatsApp now has a long-awaited feature: users can send disappearing photos and videos that can only be viewed once.

On your phone, open a WhatsApp chat and follow the steps given below to send disappearing photos or videos on WhatsApp:

Here is how to send disappearing photos and videos in WhatsApp:

Step 1: Open any WhatsApp chat and click the clip icon inside the chat bar. A card with Document, Camera, Gallery, and other options will appear. Click Camera or Gallery to select any photo or video from your gallery.

Step 2: The “1” icon will appear after selecting a media file. Click the “1” icon to enable disappearing photo/video mode in WhatsApp.

Step 3: Ignore this pop-up by pressing OK.

Step 4: Now, click and send the photo or video.

After sending the image, you’ll see that it shows 1 icon in the chat, meaning the viewer can only watch it once.

iPhone users follow similar steps. This is the appearance of the sent message.

Please note that this feature does not prevent others from capturing screenshots or recording videos using their phone’s screen recording feature or third-party applications.

According to WhatsApp, the encrypted messages also remain on the server for a few weeks on their servers. So, if someone reports the chat or that particular photo or video, the company will still have access to the files and CAN view them if needed.

The View Once feature can be included in backups. If the recipient creates a backup before opening the image or video, a copy of that file will be stored and restored.