WhatsApp is an American freeware, Voice over IP, and cross-platform messaging service owned by Facebook. The platform allows users to send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls. You can also share images, documents, user locations, and other media. It is noteworthy that the default setting of images and videos you’re sent being automatically downloaded to your phone is not always a good idea. Because these files can act as a Trojan horse and contain code that allows hackers to hijack your phone. Thought images are safe if you view them inside WhatsApp, but your phone you could potentially run into problems if you save a strange image to your phone. If you know the sender and are aware, then it is a safe image. But, you should be careful if someone you don’t know starts sending you unwanted files.
If you are experiencing such an issue, you can Turn Off the default image save settings. Go to your WhatsApp ‘Settings’ and click on ‘Chats’ and then switch OFF ‘Save to Camera Roll’. The iCloud backup option of WhatsApp, unfortunately, can’t offer end-to-end encryption, because once the chats are moved to iCloud they are now Apple’s responsibility. So, law enforcement could ask to see those chats and could be given them. The chats become decrypted if you back up an iPhone with WhatsApp chats stored on iCloud. It could enable cybercriminals to hack an iCloud to see those chats. Apple has its own mechanism of keeping your data safe. Just the name ‘disappearing messages’ makes it sound safe but this feature isn’t as watertight as you may think. WhatsApp has now added a feature to enable users to send texts that vanish after a set amount of time.
The feature works like Snapchat messages and boosts your privacy by killing off potentially sensitive messages. These messages vanish after 7 days after enabling disappearing messages, but messages sent prior to changing settings won’t be affected. Point to be noted that there are at least 5 ways someone could capture your message before it’s deleted.
- The preview of the message could still be displayed in notifications until the WhatsApp app is opened.
- If your message is quoted, the quoted text could still remain in the chat.
- If a self-destructing text is forwarded to a chat with disappearing messages turned off, it won’t be deleted.
- If a user creates a back-up before a message disappears, then that message will be included in the backup.
- The message will be deleted if the user restores their WhatsApp from the backup. A recipient can also go out of their way to capture your messages.
