WhatsApp is testing 90-day disappearing messages for some reason

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With WhatsApp being a platform that focuses on users’ privacy, it is always looking for ways to increase security and make users feel safer on the app.

One of the ways WhatsApp boosted user privacy was with the introduction of disappearing messages last year. Now, the app is testing a much longer time limit option for those disappearing messages.

According to a new report from WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is testing the extended period for disappearing messages on an Android beta version of the app. With this feature enabled, WhatsApp will automatically delete messages once they hit the three-month-old mark.

Maybe it’s just me, but that kind of time period kind of defeats the purpose of the privacy aspect of disappearing messages.

After three months, most conversations are generally forgotten about, and anyone who would have wanted to see your messages will have seen them and any nefarious plans for sensitive messages will have been put in place by that point. The 90-day disappearing message seems to be more like maintenance and cleaning out your chat rooms.

Of course, disappearing messages already exist on the non-beta version of WhatsApp. If you activate this feature now, messages will automatically disappear after seven days, which is a bit more private than the 90-day timer. The app has been testing 24-hour disappearing messages for a while now, though that feature is still not available.

This is an interesting move from WhatsApp. I can’t figure out where 90-day disappearing messages could really benefit its users.

If privacy is your ultimate concern, you should want your messages to disappear as soon as possible, and maybe even use the app’s new View Once feature for photos and videos. After 90 days, most of us have forgotten about any conversations that happened anyway.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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