In 2020, WhatsApp introduced the Disappearing Messages feature. As the name indicates, you can start a chat that the messages would disappear in 24 hours, seven days, or 90 days. Not only could this be helpful for privacy reasons, but also to ensure you always have storage for new messages on your device.
After these years, WhatsApp is now reconsidering how disappearing messages work. In a blog post, the company explains that “while this extra layer of privacy protects messages from falling into the wrong hands, sometimes there’s that occasional voice note or key piece of information you want to keep.”
With that in mind, WhatsApp is now introducing a Keep in Chat feature, so you can hang on to texts you need for later, but with a twist. The company says, “If you’ve sent the message, it’s your choice whether others in the chat can keep it for later.”
This is why WhatsApp says the sender will be notified when someone keeps a message, and they will have the ability to veto the decision. If they decide others can’t keep the message, c’est la vie; no one else can keep it, and the message will be deleted when the timer expires.
Messages you’ve saved on your WhatsApp will be noted with a bookmark icon, and you can see these messages, organized by chat, in the Kept Messages folder, says the company.
As usual, this update started rolling out today, but it can take a few weeks – and sometimes months – for it to land to all users. You’ll know if you have it when you try to bookmark a message, and you receive a notification saying the sender has to approve whether you can keep that particular message.
BGR will keep reporting on the latest WhatsApp tested and available features.
