The popular messaging app is taking one of its best features, and making it better.
All too often, changes to WhatsApp can be a pain to get used to – but the latest development appears to be one that the app’s users will love.
After much pressure, WhatsApp finally introduced the ability to delete messages in October last year – but only for seven minutes after they had sent it.
Now the app appears to be extending that time frame to over an hour.
According to information spotted by wabetainfo.com , Android beta users with the WhatsApp version number 2.18.69 will have the “Delete for Everyone” feature extended from 420 seconds to 4096 seconds – or 68 minutes and 16 seconds.
The blog post points out that, at the moment, it’s only available to Android users and not to anyone that owns an iPhone.
But it suggests that the world’s most popular messaging app – which is owned by Facebook – could roll out this change more widely in the future.
As well as the Delete for Everyone change, the site also notes there will be an upcoming feature called WhatsApp Stickers – another idea borrowed from Snapchat.
It’s expected that in order to be able to delete a message for longer, you will have to have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your phone when the update arrives. Likewise, the recipients will also have to have the latest version installed.
This latest update follows on from reports that the app will soon start allowing in-app transfers to be sent between contacts.
The announcement comes after WhatsApp performed a limited testing period with around one million users.
The company is starting out with India – where it has about two million users.
Anyone who wants to take advantage will have to link their WhatsApp account with their bank account. Other messaging platforms, such as WeChat in China, already allow mobile payments and have proved popular.
Meanwhile, if you’re yet to discover how to delete a WhatsApp messages, here are the steps you need to follow.
How to delete a WhatsApp message
Open WhatsApp and go to the chat containing the message you wish to delete.
Tap and hold the message. Optionally, tap more messages to delete multiple messages at once.
Tap Delete at the top of the screen > Delete for everyone .
