WhatsApp could soon let users recall messages sent within five minutes, offering a way to prevent embarrassment over mistaken texts.
The sought after feature will allow users to “unsend” messages, removing them from a receiver’s phone before they have had a chance to read them.
WhatsApp is testing the addition as an option in the beta version of its latest update, which could soon be available on iOS, according to monitors WABetaInfo.
The feature will offer users the chance to edit or revoke messages that have been sent within the past five minutes.
It is not clear whether will include texts that have already been delivered and read, or just those that are still in transit. Earlier this year the company started testing a recall feature in the beta version of its app that would let users delete and edit messages that are yet to be read.
When the feature will become available to the wider public is not yet certain, but WABetaInfo suggests it could come after Apple releases its next iOS update later this year. The feature is likely to be optional if it is introduced, with users being able to turn it on and off in Settings in a similar way to the “read” and “last online” notifications.
WhatsApp beta for Android 2.17.151: when you share your live location, WhatsApp will share it as a “live” message. #hidden pic.twitter.com/1RuX1V80Ih
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) April 17, 2017
Alongside the unsend button, WhatsApp is also trialling live messages that let users send information that changes in real-time for a certain period. For example, those trying to find one another on a busy street can send their live location for five minutes until they find one another.
Other updates WhatsApp could be looking to introduce include the abilities to shake your phone within a conversation to report it as spam and to reply to status messages, which Facebook introduced as part of its push into Stories.
Telegraph.co.uk
