The latest feature coming to WhatsApp is a real biggie, especially if you’re anything like us and utterly despise responding to messages. The “Read Later” function will be added in place of the Archived Chats feature and it does exactly what you think it will.
Arriving in a beta test for the app, Read Later will allow users to archive chats and continue to not receive notifications if a new message arrives. You’ll also be able to drop chats into the Read Later folder to avoid notifications even if you haven’t archived them.
The new feature is currently being tested on the beta version of WhatsApp for iOS, WABetaInfo reported, and is available to try out through the Apple TestFlight beta programme.
This new Read Later feature will include the new Vacation Mode functionality, which allows you to continue hiding archived chats even when new messages arrive. Additionally, when a chat is placed into the Read Later section, the user will not receive notifications from that chat.
The report stated that the Read Later section will be always visible in the list of WhatsApp chats. Users can edit the Read Later section to disable the Vacation Mode functionality, enabling notifications for chats stored in this section. They can also enable or disable the ability to move chats within Read Later and automatically save received media to your camera roll.
Disappearing messages
Read Later is not the only new feature coming to WhatsApp. The application’s new disappearing messages function has begun rolling out to the beta version of the Android messaging app, allowing users to send messages that expire after a set period of time.
When disappearing messages is enabled, WhatsApp users will be able to send messages that disappear after seven days. These disappearing messages will not affect any messages sent or received within the chat previously, and in individual chats, either user can turn disappearing messages on or off.
Additionally, it is possible for somebody to forward or take a screenshot of a disappearing message before it expires, as well as copy and save content from the disappearing message before it disappears. This disappearing messages feature is reportedly rolling out to the beta version of WhatsApp for Android and should launch for the WhatsApp beta on iOS soon.
