WhatsApp’s “one-time view” feature could easily be bypassed due to a bug. The feature now appears to have been fixed.
The “one-time view” feature in WhatsApp, which allows users to send an image or video once, turned out not to be so one-time after all. In September, some developers discovered a simple way to save these files anyway. WhatsApp is now said to have fixed this bug, but still stresses that this feature should be used with caution.
Still a one-off
WhatsApp spokesman Zade Alsawah told TechCrunch that the company has rolled out a solution. “We are constantly building in layers of privacy protection, and that includes rolling out important updates that can be viewed once on the Internet,” Alsawah said in an email. “As always, we continue to encourage users to only send View Once messages to people they know and trust, and make sure they are using the latest version of the app.”
read also
One-time display feature WhatsApp again one-time only
Bug fixed
The bug was noticed several months ago by developer Be’ery. TechCrunch ran the same test again with the researcher, where they saw a different message appear: “Waiting for this message. Check your phone”.
Be’ery was unable to reapply the same technique he used several months ago. “We are very pleased that our research and publication prompted WhatsApp to fix the problem and protect the privacy of their users,” Be’ery told TechCrunch.