We've heard about the WhatsApp recall feature on several
occasions in the past this year, but most of its traces were found in the
internal code, and no real evidence was there of its arrival, up until now.
According to a fresh leak, the Facebook-owned chat app has finally started
testing the 'delete for everyone' feature in its Android and iOS apps, and it
essentially lets you delete a sent message before the receiver has read it.
According to WhatsApp serial tipster WABetaInfo, the
dedicated recall server is working and is successfully recalling messages. The
feature is still being tested, and will be remotely activated for everyone
later. However, the tipster claims that the 'delete for everyone' feature will
be enabled really soon. The tipster also notes that the feature will also
delete messages from the notification centre as well - both on Android and iOS
devices.
This recall feature is already available in other chat apps
like Telegram, Viber, and other competitors, and WhatsApp is finally looking to
make it available to its billion daily active users as well. These apps allow
you to recall or revoke a message that has yet to be seen by the recipient -
something that would be displayed as a single tick in WhatsApp. Some, allow you
to delete the message on both your phone and the recipient's phone, regardless
of whether the message has already been seen. An edit message feature is also
often available. In its current form, WhatsApp doesn't allow users to edit,
delete, or recall messages sent to the recipient.
This year, WhatsApp made huge strides by launching the new
Status feature, and it recently also announced WhatsApp for Business
officially. The company claims is testing the feature with a few clients, and
will hopefully look to monetize in the future.
