The WhatsApp trick to recover expired temporary messages

For some time it has been possible to send temporary messages on WhatsApp: new messages sent within a single chat will automatically disappear seven days after activation. Disappearing messages is a feature that must be enabled. Once the feature is activated, messages sent in an individual or group chat will disappear after seven days. At the moment, it is not possible to change the time period, as can be done with other messaging apps such as Signal.

But when a temporary message disappears, does it do so forever? Actually, attention, no: this is important both for those who have decided to activate the function (because they must know that it is not safe after 7 days), and for those who receive the messages. There are various exceptions and various methods for recovering, saving or continuing to view temporary messages after the fateful week.

First, messages that were sent or received before the feature was activated will not be affected, so you will still be able to view them.

Then, messages may still be previewed in notifications if a user hasn't opened WhatsApp for seven days. However, the preview disappears when opening WhatsApp.

Other cases where a temporary message will still be visible after 7 days:

- If you reply to a message that disappears, the initial message may still appear in the chat after the seven-day period.

- If disappeared messages are forwarded to a chat that does not have disappeared messages enabled, the message will not disappear in that chat and will still be visible.

- If a backup is created before the message disappears, the message will be included in the backup but the missing messages will be deleted when restoring from a backup.

Also remember that it is always possible to take screenshots and photos of a disappearing message, and that users can also copy and save the contents of a message before it disappears.

Finally, as far as photos and videos are concerned, WhatsApp automatically saves incoming media by default.