WhatsApp’s ‘delete messages’ feature may only affect group chats

WhatsApp’s upcoming delete messages feature will be more useful for keeping groups neat and tidy rather than your personal messages private, this according to WABetaInfo.

The WhatsApp sleuth on Boxing Day revealed that the feature will still remove messages after a predetermined amount of time, but won’t be available for individual chats.

Instead, the current beta version of the chat app only lists the feature for group chats.

The feature was previously known as disappearing messages, but the chat service likely renamed it to reflect its new group-focused purpose.

“Probably, if you like this feature and you want to use it with a specific contact, you will be forced to create a group with him, seen that the feature will be only available in groups,” WABetaInfo suggested, that is if you really want to delete messages from individuals.

It’s a shame that the feature won’t extend to private chats, à la Telegram or Snapchat, but considering groups can feature an obscene number of pointless messages it might prove more useful in this guise.

Feature image: Shereesa Moodley/Memeburn