If you’re curious, you can actually uncover deleted messages on WhatsApp using a neat little trick. Officially, however, the popular instant messaging app has yet to add this to the list of WhatsApp Beta features under development. It’s not surprising since it is technically a breach of privacy to other users.
WhatsApp is constantly improving its features across all platforms. Most recently, it’s launched a new security function for WhatsApp Web and has even started developing a new WhatsApp Business interface for India’s Kirana stores. There are a lot of areas to improve upon so WhatsApp Beta is always busy testing them out. However, some features that would sound cool aren’t exactly for everyone’s best interests.
One of these is the ability to check deleted messages in your chats. Typically, you can delete your message or someone else’s—although you only have one hour after the message was sent before the option becomes unavailable. Once deleted, you can’t ever see or retrieve the message again. This is pretty useful if you’ve sent something and want others in the chat to avoid finding it when they log back in.
WhatsApp Beta is actually working on two new features for deleted messages: a longer time limit of 2 days and 12 hours for the “Delete for Everyone” option, and the ability to delete any group message for group admins. It’s quite obvious that the app has no plans on working on any feature that lets users sneak a peek into what messages were deleted, as that would violate user privacy.
This doesn’t stop people from finding workarounds, though. One old hack for deleted messages lets you view them via the Notification History function in your Settings. Turn it on and any message sent to you will be displayed in your Notification History, regardless of whether they were deleted or not. This isn’t the only hack around, too, as you can also use WhatsApp without a phone number.
Image credit: @tatechtips / TikTok
