WhatsApp has started giving some Android beta testers a view-once option for plain text. Until now the option covered only photos, videos and voice notes. A text sent this way can be opened a single time by the person you send it to, and then it is gone from the chat.
To use it, type the message as usual, then press and hold the send button instead of tapping it. A small menu offers Schedule message and View once. Choosing View once sends the text straight away. The two cannot be combined yet, so a view-once text cannot be scheduled.
The recipient does not see the words in the chat itself. They see a placeholder, tap it, and read the message on a separate screen. Once that screen is closed, it cannot be opened again, and the chat shows an opened marker in its place. The sender can tell when that happened only if read receipts are switched on. After that, nobody in the conversation can see the text any more.
The beta tracker WABetaInfo found the rollout in build 2.26.45.6 of the Android beta, installed from Google Play. It says the protections apply while the message is on screen: screenshots and screen recordings are blocked, and the text cannot be copied, forwarded or saved, because long-pressing the message does nothing.
The obvious uses are things you would rather not leave in a chat history for months, such as a password, a one-time code or an address. It also works for a message that should not sit visible the moment someone opens the conversation. Nothing stops the recipient from photographing the screen with another device, so it is a convenience for privacy, not a guarantee.
The option had already appeared in an earlier test build, 2.26.22.7, before this wider rollout. Photos, videos and voice notes have had the same behaviour for some time, so text now matches them. The feature is reaching only some beta testers at first and will spread to more accounts over the coming weeks, and WhatsApp has given no date for everyone. Testers who have it will see a short tip above the send button when they open a chat, telling them to press and hold to use View once.
