Now WhatsApp can save ‘disappearing’ messages if the sender consents

Something to consider before sending a risky text via WhatsApp is that now, disappearing messages are a bit more optional. Mark Zuckerberg is announcing a new tweak to the service’s burn-after-reading feature, which allows the recipient to long-press a message and choose to keep it.

WhatsApp describes the adjustment as a “sender superpower,” and assuming it all works as designed, it still keeps the sender in control of what ultimately happens to the message. That’s because the sender is sent a notification when a recipient tries to save a message, and the sender can then choose if it will disappear or be saved.

According to the company’s blog post, this gives senders the ability to “veto” a recipient’s attempt to save a message. “If you’ve decided your message can’t be kept by others, your decision is final, no one else can keep it, and the message will be deleted when the timer expires.”

If you decide to save a message you received and the sender is ok with that, then it will have a bookmark icon on it, and you’ll be able to see them in your kept messages folder.

The feature is rolling out globally in the next few weeks.