WhatsApp will block screenshots of photos sent using View Once

After introducing the Disappearing Messages feature, WhatsApp is now adding the View Once option for sending photos that can only be viewed once, with the app blocking local saving or duplication via screenshots .

Previously, even checking the setting that prevented the conversation from being saved to the WhatsApp history meant you couldn’t be sure that the person on the other end wasn’t creating their own “evidence” by generating screenshots of the messages or photos displayed. While this is an obvious problem, the solution is not exactly easy to find, and close collaboration with the developers of the supported mobile platforms is required. As for the compromise solution – alerting the sender to the taking of a screenshot by the person on the other end, the approach may only fuel a possible adversarial discussion, without preventing that action.

But by checking the View Once option, you’ll soon be able to protect both your messages and the pictures you send, preventing the recipient from taking screenshots that capture the WhatsApp conversation screen. The implementation could be similar to technical solutions already adopted with some Home Banking apps, meaning that the message window will be visually delimited as protected space, and the content rendered without the aid of graphical acceleration features, with scrolling appearing slightly slower than usual.

At the moment, support for the View Once option has only been identified in the code for the iOS version of the WhatsApp client, and it remains to be seen if the new functionality will be added simultaneously for Android users.