Web Desk (National Times) – WhatsApp will be adding new functionality to its disappearing messages feature, which will let users set messages in a chat to automatically be deleted after a set period of time.

As announced by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook, WhatsApp users will now have the option to turn on disappearing messages automatically for all their new one-on-one chats, so that all future messages will be automatically deleted from the service.

The Meta-owned messaging service also said it’s giving users more options for how long before a message is deleted. When the feature first launched in November last year, users only had the option of having messages disappear after seven days.

Going forward, however, there will also be the option of deleting them after just 24 hours or 90 days. The new functionality was previously reported as being in development.

WhatsApp has noted that turning on disappearing messages by default won’t affect existing chats. When you start a new one-on-one chat, a notice will appear to say that the disappearing messages feature is turned on, alongside a note that says it’s on by default.

You also have the option of turning the setting off for individual chats.