How to send 'View Once' messages on WhatsApp? Step-by-step guide

Over the past few years, the trend of sending disappearing messages has taken over social media platforms and instant messaging apps. To recall, Snapchat was the first platform that pioneered the concept of disappearing messages. While messages and media files remain in the chat history on most platforms, Snapchat came up with the concept of photos, videos or messages vanishing once a user has received them. Now, other platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp also have a similar feature. On Instagram, it is called the Vanish Mode and on WhatsApp, it is called 'View Once.' For the sake of this explainer, we will talk about WhatsApp View Once feature and how it works. 

What is the WhatsApp 'View Once' feature?

As mentioned earlier, WhatsApp View Once is a version of disappearing messages. As the name suggests, when the View Once the feature is enabled by the sender, the contents of a message are only accessible once. For instance, if A sends a video to B and enables the View Once setting for the video, B will only be able to watch the video once. As soon as B watches the video, it won't be available to watch again. Similarly, the sender won't be able to view the media file again. Additionally, the video appears on a different card than regular media files. One thing to keep in mind is that users can only send images and videos using the View Once feature. The feature is available for both Android and iOS users. 

How to use the WhatsApp 'View Once' feature?

• Open WhatsApp and head over to the chat where the message needs to be sent.
• Click a picture or shoot a video using the camera icon or select one from the gallery. 
• On the screen that appears right before sending the image/video, tap on the watch-like icon with the number '1' on it (bottom right corner).
• It will turn green, indicating that the image/video will be available to view only once.
• Tap on the green arrow at the bottom right corner to send the image/video.

Things to keep in mind while using the 'View Once' feature

Now, even though the photo or video sent by a user is available to view only once, the receiver can take screenshots or record the screen to make a copy of it. Hence, WhatsApp recommends people to use the View Once feature with trusted individuals only. Unlike Snapchat, the sender is not informed if the other person in the chat takes a screenshot. Further, check the image/video before sending it cannot be deleted afterwards.