WhatsApp remains one of the most popular chat apps across the world due to its user-friendly interface and the ability to text, video call, and send images and videos for free to anyone with an iPhone or Android phone.
The app is relatively straightforward but does offer some additional features such as the ‘View Once’ option. This allows you to send photos or videos to individuals or group chats that can only be viewed once – as the name suggests.
This feature mirrors Snapchat, where media sent on the app disappear by default after one viewing, but on WhatsApp, it’s one of several options, reports the Express.
However, iPhone users are being warned the ‘View Once’ feature has a flaw that means supposedly disappearing photos and videos are not actually being deleted.
These users are being urged to update their version of the free WhatsApp app as soon as possible to fix this bug. The ‘View Once’ flaw was first reported on blog site Medium by security researcher Ramshath, who noticed they could bypass the function.
“A friend sent me a “View Once” image,” Ramshath said. “I opened it, triggering the feature to delete the media as soon as I closed it. Out of curiosity, I navigated to Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage.
“I located the sender’s chat, sorted the storage by “Newest,” and there it was – the “View Once” image, still accessible.
“Instead of disappearing like a responsible guest, the image decided to hang around in WhatsApp’s Manage Storage area, defying the very idea of ‘View Once.'”
Even though the image vanished from the WhatsApp chat, it lingered in the phone’s memory, and could be found if you know where to look.
The researcher reported the flaw to Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. The tech giant acknowledged the bug and said it was was already working on a solution.
The latest release of WhatsApp for iOS, version 25.2. 3, rectifies this ‘View Once’ issue so you can no longer see them in your iPhone’s storage after they’ve disappeared.
This update also allows you to dial numbers without first saving them to your contacts. You can go to the Calls tab and tap ‘call a number’ to dial it and make a WhatsApp call.
You’ll also be able to select participants before initiating a group call from a group chat. This is instead of only being able to call every person in a group chat, which you might not always want to do.
The WhatsApp update for iPhone users lets you add people to ongoing voice or video calls. You’ll be able to tap on the phone or video icon inside a one-on-one chat while on another call to add that individual to the group call.
Tap here to open WhatsApp in the Apple App Store and then tap ‘update’ to download and install the latest version with the bug fix and these handy new features.
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