Image: Meta

WhatsApp has officially announced that you’ll soon be able to set voice messages to disappear after their recipient hears them. The “View Once” feature has been available for photos and videos since 2021, but it’s now expanding to cover audio messages.

While it’s a little confusing that WhatsApp is using the “View Once” branding for messages that you listen to rather than look at, it’s nice to see the protection available for another of the messaging service’s formats. As a public defender of voice messages, I, for one, am thrilled.

In a press release, the company suggests you might want to use the feature “for reading out your credit card details to a friend, or when you’re planning a surprise.” To that list, I would also add “bitching…

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