tech2 News Staff

WhatsApp seems to have finally heard its users out and will soon update its ‘Delete for Everyone’ feature to let users delete sent messages within a longer duration of time. The update is still being tested on beta and should be available in the stable versions soon.

The 'Delete for Everyone' feature was rolled out by WhatsApp in November 2017 when it allowed users to delete a sent message within seven minutes of it being sent. This was found to be too little a duration for most users.

Now, according to a report by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp beta version 2.18.69 allows users to delete messages within 4096 seconds or 68 minutes and 16 seconds of the message being sent. while the increased number does sound a little random, it is a vast improvement as compared to 420 seconds or seven minutes deadline earlier.

According to the report, WhatsApp beta version 2.18.69 also adds the ability to forward stickers to other chats in the 2.18.67 beta. The 2.18.69 beta also comes with a bug which causes the app to crash when the user tries to send GIFs.

Since the report came out, WhatsApp has released two more updates to their beta program bearing the version number 2.18.70 and 2.18.71. While 2.18.70 fixes the issue with sending GIFs, 2.18.71 adds another new addition to the voice note sending icon in a chat window.

Users can now record a portion of the voice note and lock it making sure that it gets saved in case the user accidentally lets go of the recording button. To be able to use the lock feature, users will have to tap the “mic” icon in the chat, after 0.5 seconds of which, WhatsApp will show pop up a new UI element, presenting a locked microphone button.

Another minor addition is the ability to view the size of a specific sticker pack before downloading it.

We do not have a timeline for the stable roll out yet but we should expect WhatsApp to roll out an update soon.