According to the company, while the users can themselves turn disappearing messages on and off for individual chats in a group chat, only the admins will get to use the feature.

WhatsApp also explained how the feature will work.

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The company said that once the feature is enabled, "new messages sent in the individual or group chat will disappear after seven days".

"If a user doesn't open WhatsApp in the seven-day period, the message will disappear. However, the preview of the message might still be displayed in notifications until WhatsApp is opened," the company added.

WhatsApp said that if a disappearing message is forwarded to another chat with disappearing messages off, the message won't disappear in the forwarded chat.

The feature will also work for media but the media will be saved to a smartphone if the auto-download option is enabled.

The latest development comes a year after the feature was first spotted on the platform's beta version for Android.

As noted by WABetaInfo, a website that tracks WhatsApp, disappearing messages appeared on WhatsApp beta version 2.19.275 for Android last year.

The disappearing message feature will rollout on WhatsApp for web, Android, iOS and KaiOS platforms.

However, the exact date of its global availability is still unclear.

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