Whatsapp and the new self-destructing messages: how they work

It seems that Whatsapp was inspired by Snapchat whose contents were characterized precisely by a time limit and then disappeared into thin air. Similar, but not with the same philosophy, there is also the secret Telegram chat, probably one of the app’s most beloved features. In short, it was time for something like this to arrive on Whatsapp. With Disappearing Messages the user can choose if and when to make the contents disappear: never, five seconds, an hour. Selecting one of the last two cases, the messages will be automatically removed from the chat without leaving any trace.

When it will arrive

At the moment this new feature is available in beta test and only in group chats. It is not known if in the projects there is that to adapt it also to the single chat of WhatsApp. Surely the idea demonstrates an increasing attention of Mark Zuckerberg to the privacy of its users, also in the wake of what happened last year, with the Cambridge Analytica scandal. But not only. Surely it is also a way to capture the attention of the public, especially the younger one, a target potentially attracted also by other more “complex” messaging services. It is likely that the novelty is also dictated by the increasing demand of users to keep their conversations secret.

Many will surely appreciate these innovations. Whatsapp is the most used message app by Italians. The average use per person is 14 hours, more or less than the one spent on Facebook. In second place is Facebook Messenger with just over 23 million monthly users (+ 28%), but with an average usage time of just an hour and 15 minutes. Finally, in third place is Tegram , with its 9 million Italians and a nice leap forward compared to the previous year: even + 30%, with a usage time of 3 hours and 24 minutes.