Last year, WhatsApp introduced an ephemeral messages feature. However, these messages last for seven days, which is a long time for something to disappear after sending.

Thankfully, the chat app is working on a new mode that lets you send fleeting images, and those disappear as soon as you leave the chat.

The feature is currently under development, according to WABetaInfo. So settle down, you foolish little thing. But it’ll land on both iOS and Android versions, and that’s amazing. There are a couple of essential things to note here. First, you can’t save these photos in your gallery or copy them to another app. That’s good because you don’t want your sensitive images being exported out of the app.

WhatsApp is working on self-destructing photos in a future update for iOS and Android.
• Self-destructing photos cannot be exported from WhatsApp.
• WhatsApp didn’t implement a screenshot detection for self-destructing photos yet.
Same concept from Instagram Direct. ⏱ pic.twitter.com/LLsezVL2Hj
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) March 3, 2021

However, there’s no screenshot detection feature as of yet. So, someone could potentially take a screenshot to keep a record of a brief photo. WABetaInfo noted that disappearing messages in Instagram Direct works in the same way.

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Since this feature is under development, it hasn’t even made it to the app’s test versions. But we’ll keep an eye out for when it’s out and write a detailed guide on sending disappearing images in WhatsApp.