WhatsApp is developing a new privacy-focused feature aimed at giving users greater control over how their media is shared and stored by others.
Spotted in the latest beta version for Android, this feature is still in the works and won’t be available to the general public just yet. However, once rolled out, it promises to bring a meaningful layer of privacy to everyday chats.
Currently, WhatsApp automatically saves photos, videos, and other media received in chats to the user’s device. With this upcoming feature, users will be able to prevent others from automatically saving the media they send — a move that aligns with WhatsApp’s broader push toward more privacy-conscious communication tools.
This capability expands on functionality already available in disappearing messages, which stop recipients from saving or exporting content easily. What’s new here is that users will be able to apply similar restrictions to regular chats, not just those that are set to disappear after a certain period. In addition to media saving restrictions, this feature will also prevent recipients from exporting entire chat histories when the advanced privacy setting is enabled.
However, it’s important to note that the feature won’t stop people from forwarding individual messages. That loophole still exists, so while this adds a useful layer of protection, it’s not entirely airtight.
Another noteworthy element of the feature is its impact on Meta AI. If a user enables this advanced chat privacy setting, anyone in the chat will be blocked from interacting with Meta AI features within that conversation — possibly to ensure AI tools can’t access or process sensitive content shared in these private spaces.
As with all features in beta, things could change before the official launch. WhatsApp may add more functions or restrictions along the way. When it is eventually released, it will be an opt-in feature, meaning users must actively choose to enable it for their chats.
This move marks another step in WhatsApp’s ongoing mission to put user privacy front and center in the messaging experience.