WhatsApp yesterday announced on Twitter that they have extended the time frame for deleting a message. Earlier it used to be one hour which according to many users was quite less time.
Instant messaging services revolutionized the way humans communicate with each other. They toppled SMS and now rule the globe. But what began as a convenient way to share emotions and thoughts, slowly evolved into over-sharing. It is the reason why WhatsApp launched the option to delete sent messages for either you or for everyone who you sent them.
WhatsApp Delete Messages Feature
WhatsApp introduced the message delete feature a while back. It worked but had a time limit of just one hour. But with the new update, users will get 2.5 days to delete a message. There is one catch though! Both the sender and the receiver need to be on the latest version of WhatsApp for the feature to work.
There are also many kinks in the current implementation of the delete message feature. Firstly, it doesn’t inform you whether the message was deleted at the receiver’s end. If they are on an older version, the feature might not work despite choosing the ‘Delete for Everyone’ option. Secondly, it’s still vulnerable to other forms of message duplication, such as copying text, and taking screenshots.
A Twitter user jokingly commented that WhatsApp must remove the ‘This message was deleted” prompt that is displayed after you delete a message. It is because receivers often ask senders about the contents of the message that they deleted. The after-conversation becomes more difficult.
Another user suggested to the makers that it was time to introduce the edit feature in WhatsApp. It would solve a lot of problems that the delete message feature cannot do.
We also think that the edit feature would be nice but that would just lead to chaos. Even if WhatsApp releases such a feature, it would probably have a time limit after which changes cannot be undone. WhatsApp is slowly upgrading itself in areas in which it lags behind.
Recently, WhatsApp introduced its cross-device connectivity feature where WhatsApp Web can work and sync data without an active internet connection on your primary device.
