Those responsible for WhatsApp they seem to be desperate to prevent users from turning to other instant messaging platforms in search of greater security. The idea that the chat service can share information with Facebook (and the many unfounded rumors about it) have caused an exodus of users that the platform tries to stop.
The last attempt to prevent users from leaving is to copy one of Telegram’s features: self-destructing photos. This means that, very soon, the images that we pass through the chat service will not be saved forever, but we can choose to have them disappear the moment the other person leaves the chat.
Photos that only last as long as the chat is open
As we have been able to read in the WaBetaInfo Twitter account, the program is already testing the idea of short photos. The moment someone sends us an image, a message will appear informing us that the photo will disappear the moment we leave the chat. Once that image is open, a message will also appear about it indicating that, the moment we leave the conversation, we will no longer be able to access said photo.
This implies that, if we have sent a more personal image, we will not have to worry about what might happen to that image later. Once the person to whom we have sent it leaves the conversation with us, the image will be erased forever. This can give us a feeling of greater privacy.
And what about the screenshots?
Of course, even if the photo is destroyed at the moment, there is always the possibility that the person to whom we send it decides to make a screenshot.
In principle, there does not seem to be any indication that WhatsApp intends to introduce no method to control that such captures cannot be made. Nor does it seem that in principle they are going to send the sender of the message a notice that they have taken a capture of their photo. Therefore, the danger of the other person keeping our photo is still there.
Photos cannot be exported
Of course, the screenshots will be the only way the other person will have to keep a photo that we have sent. The moment we decide that it is a self-destructing photo, the application will not allow us to export the photo or share it on another social network. Not even on Facebook or Instagram, which are associates of the company. The capture option is still there, but there will be no other way to keep the image.
All this can make us have a false sense of security. As the photo is not going to be stored on the other person’s phone nor can it be shared, we can easily think that no one will be able to access it other than the person to whom we have sent it. But the fact that screenshots are allowed will mean that no matter how much we use this new security system, the possibility that it ends up in the wrong hands continues to exist.
When you send a photo you lose control
Although without a doubt everything that is to improve security in WhatsApp is good news, we must not forget a maxim. And is that once we have sent a photograph to someone we totally lose control over it. Even using this mode of self-destructing images, there is always the possibility that the other makes a capture or even shows it to another person who is next to him at that moment, so that our privacy is in question.
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