Thekabarnews.com—WhatsApp is reportedly developing a new privacy feature that would allow users to send view-once text messages. This would expand a feature that previously restricted photos and videos.

The feature is currently in internal testing and could give users more control over sensitive conversations once it rolls out.

According to reports, the new feature will let recipients open a text message just once. WhatsApp will delete the message from the chat after the recipient views it, so they can’t read it again.

The feature is the latest in WhatsApp’s efforts to increase user privacy as the need for secure messaging options continues to grow. If implemented, it would bring the platform’s existing View Once feature beyond multimedia content. In addition, it would cover regular text messages.

WhatsApp began testing the feature on Android devices and has now started internal testing for iOS. This indicates that the company is getting ready to launch it on both major mobile operating systems. Users can activate the feature by pressing and holding the Send button before sending a message.

WhatsApp is likely to add another option to let users tag the text as a view-once message. Delivered messages will only be available to the recipient for one opportunity to read before auto-deleting.

WhatsApp is reportedly developing the feature for both one-on-one conversations and group chats. But it isn’t expected to be available for WhatsApp channels. Those channels are more of a one-way broadcast tool than a private messaging space.

The feature is similar to WhatsApp’s existing Disappearing Messages, but the two functions are not identical. Disappearing messages remain visible in a conversation until the expiration period chosen by the user, like 24 hours, seven days, or 90 days, has expired.

A view-once text message, however, disappears after the recipient opens it the first time, regardless of the time limit.

This difference would make the new feature particularly useful for sharing ephemeral information such as one-time passwords, confidential notes, private addresses, or other sensitive information. Users don’t want this information stored in chat history.

As with past privacy-focused updates, WhatsApp has not indicated a timeline for public rollout. The feature is still in internal testing and is not yet available to public beta testers. WhatsApp will likely conduct additional testing and refinement before rolling out the feature more broadly.

Meta-owned WhatsApp has been gradually expanding its privacy toolkit over the past few years with features like encrypted backups, chat locks, disappearing messages, and view-once media.

WhatsApp could further strengthen its position as one of the world’s leading privacy-focused messaging services by introducing one-time-view text messages.

If testing goes well, this could be one of the biggest messaging updates for WhatsApp. It would give users an additional layer of security when sharing sensitive information in personal and group chats.