WhatsApp is all set to make your entire experience on the app ephemeral, and long-lasting at the same time, based on new information that has just been revealed by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of parent company Facebook.
Confused? The tech giant has just announced that it will be rolling out three new features for its mobile app. These include a much-anticipated multi-device support, as well as options for a “disappearing mode” and a “view once mode”.
Now Use WhatsApp on 4 Devices at Once
The multi-device feature will allow users to remain logged into their WhatsApp account through multiple devices (up to 4, to be precise), even if the data connection is off on their main device. Up till now, users could only log in to the platform through a single device at a time, but the new feature has been in Beta for quite a while.
Zuckerberg has said that the move will help sync messages and other content more easily and seamlessly across devices. Will Cathcart, Head at WhatsApp, has further said that a dedicated app for iPad will soon be coming out as well. However, no exact dates have as of now been revealed.
While the multi-device support will definitely make life easier by creating better synergy between different devices, and helping store messages, Facebook is also planning to make WhatsApp chats a “once in a lifetime” affair. The two other features to be introduced are “disappearing mode” and “view once”, which will make messages disappear on cue.
Disappearing Mode
Disappearing mode will be an extension of the “disappearing messages” feature that is already functional on the app. Said feature can, as of now, be enabled in specific chats, to make messages by you disappear after 7 days.
The new mode will allow users to extend the disappearing messages feature to all their chats. This means that all their chat threads will disappear after a specific ‘period’. However, there is no heads up as of now on whether users will get the flexibility to set the ‘period’ to that desired by them.
View Once
As for view once, the feature will make messages, images, and other content in a chat sent by you disappear, after the recipient sees them once. This means that once the recipient has viewed your message, they won’t be come back to it.
