Almost everyone will have sent a message they wished they could take back – but those days of WhatsApp regret could soon be over.
Whether it’s a drunken text to an ex, a typo-laden message to a colleague or client, or a saucy text to a family member that was meant for your partner, there’s no shortage of texts that we’d like to unsigned. Fortunately, the latest rumour is that WhatsApp is working on exactly that feature.
According to WABetaInfo, a Twitter feed that reports news about WhatsApp updates, the hugely popular messaging app will soon get a “recall” option. The site details how several names for the feature have been tested, including “unsend” and “revoke”.
https://twitter.com/statuses/860191106205667328
Apparently the icon is already available in the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.17.171, but it’s disabled by default. WABetaInfo also suggests that Recall will be available on the iOS beta with the next update.
https://twitter.com/statuses/860191218340421633
The feature seemingly allows users to recall/unsend a message that’s been delivered to another user. Right now, there’s no way of scrapping a sent message once it’s arrived on someone else’s phone.
But it wouldn’t be a huge surprise for WhatsApp to add such a feature. Facebook owns both WhatsApp and Instagram, the latter of which already has an unsend option for direct messages. There’s no reason why the same basic idea couldn’t be ported over to WhatsApp too.
https://twitter.com/statuses/860232934141435909
However, don’t forget that just because a feature is being tested doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to make it to the live version of software. It’s entirely possible that WhatsApp will never get a proper recall feature, and we’ll be resigned to a life of actually thinking about what we type before we hit send. The horror…
WhatsApp launched in January 2009, and now serves over one billion users globally. The company was bought out by Facebook in February 2014 for the huge sum of $19.3 billion.
Related: Best Android phones
Do you think WhatsApp should add an unsigned feature? Let us know in the comments.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
