WhatsApp is testing a new way to send text messages that disappear the moment they have been read. The feature, called View Once for text messages, has begun reaching a small group of Android beta users, extending to written chats the self-destructing idea first applied to photos and videos. Anyone who has typed out a password or a private note and then worried about it sitting in a chat history will see the appeal at once.
The feature is currently available to selected testers running WhatsApp beta version 2.26.45.6 on Android, according to WABetaInfo, which tracks the app’s test builds. Not every beta user will see it straight away, since WhatsApp usually switches new tools on for a small slice of testers first before widening the release. The company has not said when it will reach all Android users, or whether iPhone owners will get it at the same time.
This is not WhatsApp’s first step into disappearing content. The company introduced disappearing messages in late 2020, and in August 2021 it launched View Once for photos and videos, so a picture or clip could be opened once and then vanish. Voice messages later gained the same treatment, and text was the missing piece. The change matters at a huge scale: Meta confirmed in April 2025 that WhatsApp had passed three billion monthly users, so even a small adjustment to its chats is felt by an enormous audience.
How View Once Text Messages Work
Sending one of these messages is deliberately simple. After typing a message, the sender presses and holds the send button and chooses View Once from the options that appear. The first time the feature is used, WhatsApp shows a short explanation and the sender must tap OK before the message goes out, which makes it harder to switch the mode on by accident.
The message does not display its contents directly in the conversation. The recipient sees a placeholder and must tap it to open a separate viewing screen, so the words never sit in plain sight in the chat thread. After the recipient closes the message, it disappears for good. The sender gets a marker showing it has been opened, provided read receipts are switched on.
Screenshots and Forwarding Are Blocked
WhatsApp has added several restrictions to stop the recipient keeping a copy. A View Once text message cannot be copied, forwarded or saved through the app, closing off the easiest ways of passing a private note on to somebody else. While the message is open, WhatsApp also blocks screenshots and screen recordings. Once the recipient has viewed and closed it, neither side can get the words back.
Those protections are real, but they are not absolute. A determined recipient could still photograph the screen with a second phone, something no app can prevent. The earlier View Once for photos and videos was weaker in this respect, since recipients could screenshot a disappearing picture without the sender being told. The text version closes that gap inside the app, though the second-device workaround means it should never be treated as a guarantee.
View Once Messages Cannot Be Scheduled
There is one clear limitation in the current test version. According to WABetaInfo, View Once text messages cannot be scheduled, so a user cannot set one to go out at a later time. That will matter to people who rely on scheduling for greetings or reminders across time zones, and may push some users to stick with ordinary disappearing messages for anything prepared in advance. It is not yet clear whether WhatsApp will add scheduling before the wider release, or whether the restriction is deliberate, since a message meant to be seen once arguably loses some of its point if left sitting in a queue.
Availability
WhatsApp has been working on View Once text messages for several months, and its appearance in the Android beta suggests it is close to being ready. The rollout is limited to selected users on beta version 2.26.45.6, and the company has given no date for a general release, let alone for iPhones. The cautious pace is familiar: WhatsApp tested View Once for photos and videos with a small group from June 2021 before rolling it out to everyone that August.
The wider significance goes beyond a single new button. Ephemeral messaging, the idea that a chat need not keep a permanent record of everything said in it, was popularised by Snapchat and has since been adopted across messaging apps. A one-time text option fits naturally into a world where people share Wi-Fi passwords, one-time codes and addresses in chats they may never look back through. There are trade-offs too: a message that vanishes is harder to refer back to, and it could be misused to send something hurtful with no record left behind. For now, though, the direction is clear. WhatsApp is steadily giving users more control over how long their words last, and once this test reaches everyone, the humble text message will be able to disappear just as completely as a photo.
