How to send self-destructing photos and videos on WhatsApp

You have to send a very important photo to a friend of yours but, as a matter of privacy, you would like the content in question to be deleted after being viewed. In this regard, did you know that WhatsApp, the famous messaging app owned by Facebook, offers a feature that allows you to do just that, and you would therefore like to know how to use it.

No problem: if this is the case and, therefore, you ask yourself how to send photos and videos that self-destruct on WhatsApp, know that I am here to help you and to explain, step by step, how to use this tool, which allows you to to send photos and videos that will no longer be visible in the chat after being viewed for the first time by the recipient.

You will explain how to proceed both from smartphones and tablets, and from PCs. Therefore, if the topic is of interest to you, I invite you to make yourself comfortable and put into practice the tips you find below. I assure you it’s very simple. Happy reading and good luck for everything!

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to send self-destructing photos and videos on WhatsApp
  • From Android and iOS
  • From PC

Preliminary information

Before explaining to you how to send self-destructing photos and videos on WhatsApp, I need to give you some useful information in this regard.

First of all, you must know that the WhatsApp feature that interests you, that is, the one that allows you to send photos and videos in chats and automatically deletes them after the first view by the recipients, is called View once. It does not save images in the recipients’ Galleries (even if it activates the function that allows you to do so for content sent normally ) and is available both in the WhatsApp app for Android and iOS and in WhatsApp for Windows / macOS and WhatsApp Web .

In all the cases mentioned, the aforementioned functionality must be selected manually each time you want to send a photo or video to be viewed only once. Its usefulness lies in the fact that the recipient, in addition to not being able to review the contents after the first view, will not be able to forward, save or share them.

It is equally important to specify that if you receive a photo or video set up for one view only, you will need to see it within 14 days of receipt: at the end of this period, in fact, the availability of the files will expire and, therefore, the contents will no longer be able to be displayed.

If, on the other hand, you send a content to be displayed only once, you can know if the recipient has opened it through the “usual” functionality relating to read receipts, which therefore the recipient must have enabled on his WhatsApp (and you on yours) .

Also, you should know that files that have been sent through the View Once feature can be restored from backup, in case the message has not yet been viewed. If, on the other hand, the photo or video has already been opened, the item will not be stored in the backup and, therefore, cannot be restored.

In conclusion, before moving on to the practical part of this tutorial, I want to suggest that you use the View option only once to send photos and videos to your trusted contacts, as it has an important limitation: it is in fact possible to take a screenshot or a recording of the sent media file before it is no longer visible (without the sender being notified). The same goes, of course, if someone decides to take a photo or video of the content using another device. In short, privacy, yes, but not absolute. Read more here.

How to send self-destructing photos and videos on WhatsApp

Having made the necessary premises, let’s see together how to send self-destructing photos and videos on WhatsApp by acting as a smartphone, tablet and PC. Before starting, however, check that you have updated WhatsApp to the latest version available on your device, otherwise you may not be able to use the feature that allows you to send self-destructing photos and videos.

From Android and iOS

To send self-destructing photos and videos on WhatsApp via the Android or iOS app, the first thing you need to do is, of course, to start the app in question via its icon located on the home screen and/or in the drawer of your device.

Then, through the Chat screen, locate the person you want to send temporary content to and tap their name to open the dedicated private conversation screen.

Now, if you use Android, press the paperclip icon and tap on the Gallery item , in order to select the photo gallery item on your device. Alternatively, tap on the Camera option to take a photo on the spot via the WhatsApp camera.

On iOS, on the other hand, to send an attachment, press the (+) button and then press the words Photo and video library or the one called Camera to, respectively, select a photo or video from the Gallery of your device or send a photo / a video made on the spot using the WhatsApp camera.

At this point, regardless of the operating system used, press the key with the symbol (1), in order to activate the View function once, finally send the item in question by tapping on the airplane icon.

At the end of the sending, the photo or video will be viewable only once and, after it has been viewed by the recipient, the message Open message will be shown, confirming that it has been viewed.

From PC

Even using the WhatsApp client for Windows or macOS you can send photos and videos that self-destruct, and the exact same operation can also be done using WhatsApp Web.

To start, log in to your WhatsApp account on your PC by scanning the QR code using the appropriate function of the app on your smartphone: you will then see the list of all your currently active conversations.

Once this is done, locate the chat with the user to whom you want to send the “one shot” file and click on their name to open the dedicated private conversation screen.

Then press on the paperclip icon located at the bottom and then click on the Photo and video button or on the one called Camera, respectively to attach an image or a video located in the memory of your computer or to take a photo/video made on the moment.

After selecting the item to send, press the button (1) , in order to activate the View once feature, which will allow you to protect your privacy, making the attachment self-destruct. Finally, to send the photo or video, click on the airplane icon.

Once sent, the message will be visible to the recipient only once and to confirm the view, you will be shown the word Open message.