Technology WhatsApp is testing disappearing messages

Your future WhatsApp messages, should you choose to accept it, will self-destruct in five seconds. Or 1 hour, whichever feels more convenient. The feature is currently in alpha testing according to a recent discovery, so there’s no telling when or even if the new Snapchat-esque feature will ever actually make it to the app. Even so, it goes to show that Facebook is considering stealing yet another feature from Snapchat for one of its apps, or maybe even all of its messaging apps at some point down the road.

© Provided by Penske Media Corporation whatsapp-dissapearing-messages-leak

© Provided by Penske Media Corporation Google WhatsApp YouTube, Gelsenkirchen, Germany – 15 Nov 2018

The self-destruct messages are called Disappearing messages, and are available in the WhatsApp beta version for Android (v2.19.275), WABetaInfo reports. Any message marked as a disappearing message will be automatically deleted from the WhatsApp chat history, which might be a convenient feature to have for certain content that you want to share with the app.

Shared inbox startup Front adds WhatsApp support

Front, the company that lets you manage your inboxes as a team, is adding one more channel, WhatsApp. Starting today, you can read and reply to people contacting you through WhatsApp. This feature is specifically targeted at users of WhatsApp Business. You can get a business phone number through Twilio and then hand out that number to your customers. After that, you can see the messages coming in Front and treat them like any Front message. In particular, you can assign conversations to a specific team members so that your customers get a relevant answer as quickly as possible.

WhatsApp, of course, is the only Facebook app that supports end-to-end encryption, so your messages are already secure. But being able to have some of them disappear after a set amount is something that plenty of other messaging apps support.

As you can see in the screenshot above, there are only two expiration options available, including five seconds or 1 hour. Presumably, the messages will disappear after they’ve been read by the recipient, which is the only way the five-second option makes sense.

Considering that Facebook wants to bring end-to-end encryption to Messenger and Instagram as well, and unify its instant messaging platforms at some point, we might see this disappearing messages feature on all of its apps once cross-app messaging is possible. That’s just speculation at this point, based on the assumption that the self-destructing message feature will graduate from the beta app and eventually make its way to the public version of WhatsApp.

Sign up for BGR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

In Ghana, mosques are invited to lower the volume of the call to prayer and use WhatsApp

The Ghanaian authorities seek by all means to limit noise pollution in the capital Accra. In particular, they point to the megaphones of the muezzins.

© Nicholas Seun Adatsi / Bloomberg via Getty Images The Makola Market in Accra, Ghana, March 15, 2018.

The heart of most major cities on the African continent is like a beehive with its constant noise. Chaotic traffic, street vendors, music on loudspeakers, ... In Ghana, authorities in the capital Accra believe that another problem causes noise pollution: the noise of places of worship, including mosques.

"How is it that the prayer can not be transmitted by SMS or WhatsApp? That the imam can send WhatsApp messages to everyone," said the Minister of Environment, Science, of Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, also a cardiologist. "I think it will help reduce noise, it may be controversial but it's something we can think about," he told the German public radio Deutsche Welle (DW).

The Ghanaian government hopes that such a change could contribute to the reduction of noise pollution in the capital. It is inspired by

what has been done in Kigali, Rwanda, where calls for prayer have been banned for a few weeks. An idea that is difficult for Muslims

Unsurprisingly, Ghanaians of the Muslim faith, who represent about 20% of the population, are not very enthusiastic about this idea. Interviewed by the DW, the Imam of the Fadama Mosque, Sheik Usan Ahmed, calls the believers to prayer five times a day. If he concedes that the noise level could be lowered, he claims that using SMS or WhatsApp messages would have economic implications. "The imam does not get a monthly salary, where would he get the money to do that?" "We try to do what we can." The problem is not that we use SMS or other messages, but I do not think it's necessary. "

A resident of Accra reminded the DW that Christian churches also use megaphones that preach at dawn. Another that everyone is not on social networks, nor even literate.

As recalled by the DW,

WHO has long warned against the harmful effects that exposure to noise could have on public health. And to list cardiovascular diseases, sleep disorders and cognitive disorders among the short and longer term problems that people might develop.