WhatsApp is continuing to expand its security functionalities. After initially introducing the option for all users to send media, i.e. photos or videos, for one-time viewing, these were recently provided with a screenshot lock.
Screenshot lock for disposable media
Anyone who sends pictures or videos using WhatsApp will recently find a small circle with a 1 in it in the image description input field on the right. This function allows media to be marked so that recipients can only view it once. Here WhatsApp has obviously taken a curious look at the popular photo messenger app SnapChat.

If the sender uses this function in a chat, the color of the circle changes to green with a black 1 in it.
This means that it can be traced later that the media marked in this way was sent with the special protection of the one-time view. Media in view-once mode disappears once the recipient opens it and closes the media viewer.
Once the media viewer is closed, the photo or video disappears from the chat and cannot be viewed again. View-once photos and videos are not saved to, or forwardable from, the receiving device's Photos or Gallery. A new note will be added to the sender shortly. In a pop-up that appears when the message is sent, the recipient is informed that the recipient cannot take a screenshot of the message.

A first beta version, which is already available in the Play Stores, provides the following information:

Protection is only incomplete
As practical and secure as the new one-time view function seems, the protection is not perfect. A screenshot cannot be taken using the same device on which the message is displayed. But if you have a second smartphone or camera, you can of course take a photo of the message and use it in whatever form. The new notice, which is expected to be broadcast to all users in the near future, only provides the illusion of relative security. Every WhatsApp user should be very aware of what image content, static or moving, is being sent and whether you can live with it if it is made available to a larger public elsewhere.
Soon perhaps also text messages for one-time viewing
WABetaInfo portal , which is generally well informed, has found evidence in a current beta version that text messages could also be sent as a one-time view in the future. Sensitive text content would then disappear from the chat after reading and may have to be sent again. But here too, they could still be “secured” by the recipient with another camera, even against the sender’s wishes.
It is not yet known whether and when text messages will be rolled out in one-time view.
Source:
Schmidti's blog
WaBetaInfo
Golem
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