WhatsApp adds ‘secret photos and videos’ update that rivals Snapchat

DISAPPEARING photos and videos are coming to Whatsapp.

The concept of fleeting messages was popularized on Snapchat but has been mimicked elsewhere.

WhatsApp boasts nearly two billion monthly visitors

Disappearing photos and videos are messages that are viewable for a finite amount of time.

On the platforms that do offer disappearing photo messages, the duration can be chosen by the sender.

A quote attributed to WABetaInfo says “this feature is planned to be released in a future update, so be sure to keep up to date your WhatsApp beta build from the Microsoft Store.”

Whats App beta testers will likely receive the update first and provide feedback for the company before they roll it out en masse.

Snapchat was founded by Evan Spiegel in 2012.

Like other tech-pioneers, he attended Stanford University, and like other billionaires, he dropped out to focus on building his company.

WhatsApp is owned by Meta – led by another famous dropout in Mark Zuckerberg.

It’s unclear whether Whatsapp’s disappearing photos feature will have the scores of face-filters that are popular on Snapchat.

Instagram, also owned by Meta, has loads of filters produced by internally and by contributing users.

Instagram famously hijacked the stories feature from Snapchat, enabling users to add a post to their page that remains visible for 24 hours.

When asked about other tech entities copying Snapchat’s features, Spiegel remarked “our values are really hard to copy.”

“Snapchat is not just a bunch of features,” he told Vox. “It really has an underlying philosophy that runs directly counter to traditional social media.”