Why you shouldn’t treat the ‘View Once’ mode for media on WhatsApp as a privacy feature

Instead treating it like a privacy feature, it’s probably more apt to think of the ‘View Once’ mode for media as a method of keeping your chat tidy, just like the disappearing chats feature. — AFP

WhatsApp recently introduced a new feature on the latest beta version of the app called View Once mode for messages, allowing users to send photos from the app to their contacts that can only be opened once.

The feature basically ensures that any media sent by a user is only stored until it is opened, then deleted immediately. However, as users have discovered, there is a small caveat to using this new feature – WhatsApp doesn’t block users from taking a screenshot of your media, or alert you when a contact attempts to do so.