Facebook has officially announced the WhatsApp Disappearing Messages feature in the first week of November 2020 and also promised to roll out on a large scale within the month itself.

Finally, the feature is rolling out in India now. You just need to update the app and voila, it’s live.

The idea behind the feature is to upscale privacy a bit but there are ways to make it ineffective, we will discuss that in later sections.

How to Enable/Disable WhatsApp Disappearing Messages on Android, IOS, Desktop, and Web

As of now, you do not have options to enable/disable the feature on multiple contacts at once or set a custom expiry time which makes the current process pretty straightforward.

1. Open WhatsApp chat
2. Tap on Contact Name
3. Scroll until you find “Disappearing Messages”
4. Tap/Click to toggle Enable/Disable
5. Now whatever you send messages, media attachments, etc. will be deleted after 7 days.

Note: Disappearing Messages will only work for future chats until disabled. Previous chats will not be affected. Only group admins can enable/disable the feature in a WhatsApp group.

How to Enable/Disable WhatsApp Disappearing Messages on KaiOS

1. Open WhatsApp chat.
2. Go to Options and then View Contact
3. Select Disappearing Message then Edit
4. Switch between on/off and confirm.

Current Limitation in Disappearing Messages

Although WhatsApp Disappearing messages feature is perfect for its initial seven days only expiry functionality and case to case basis enable/disable options, still it lags more fine-grained expiry control, minimum should be an hour at least.

As this feature is newly launched, customization is kept limited on purpose, so that Facebook can understand the user’s needs and work on that accordingly. Currently below are few limitations as we observed

1. Disappearing Messages need to be enabled manually for contacts you need and it stays enable until you manually disable it. Rather Facebook could have introduced it as a chat attachment option like location sharing or incognito session maybe for more convenience.
2. We can not enable/disable the feature in multiple contacts at once.
3. Taking screenshots, forwarding chats, copying texts into other applications or even Auto-download media will dismiss the Disappearing Message functionality.
4. While the feature is enabled, if a user does not open WhatsApp in 7 days, the message will disappear although it can be partially/fully read from the notifications barring hide sensitive content is on in privacy settings.
5. As of now, we do not have expiry control and by default, it is 7 days. Some users may find it long enough to not use the feature at all. Although, Facebook has confirmed that a week timeframe is just a starting point to keep the conversation more practical until it becomes more customizable.
6. In case any user is restoring a backup including the disappearing messages, it will disappear after restoration if it reached 7 days threshold.

To know more you can checkout WhatsApp FAQ on Disappearing Messages here.

There was a significant number of serious players dependent on this game like Streamers (YouTubers), eSports players, and a few others who spend thousands to purchase skins, battle passes, etc. With the sudden ban, they all felt deprived, at the same time, being a threat to national security made the whole situation became emotional too.

Initially, the game was removed from Google Play Store and IOS App store to ensure no further installation but existing users could continue to play but weeks later on 30th October 2020, the server was made unavailable to ensure complete blocking of any traffic towards PUBG Mobile.

As a First step, PUBG Mobile discontinued their terms with Tencent (a Chinese organization) for Indian regions and later started seeking out alternatives to handle PUBG mobile India vertical. Since then numerous rumors started to reveal like either Airtel or Jio will acquire PUBG Mobile India operations. Even in the last few weeks, the tech industry was gossiping a strong leak about PUBG Mobile’s permanent ban in India.

Out of everything, today i.e. 12th November 2020, PUBG Mobile India officially shared an Instagram post stating “Coming Soon”. Interestingly the photo also showcasing INDIA in tricolor which may represent a separate Indian version or just the unban news specifically for India.

View this post on Instagram

⠀ 📣 COMING SOON #PUBGMOBILE #pubgmobileindia

A post shared by PUBG MOBILE India 🇮🇳 (@pubgmobile.in.official) on Nov 12, 2020 at 1:00am PST

Let’s see what’s going to happen, as per the latest rumors PUBG Mobile may tentatively come back a day after Diwali i.e. 15th November 2020.

According to the press release, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources for stealing and secretively transmitting user’s data unauthorizedly to servers located outside of India. These data and profiling can compromise the National security and defense of India which required emergency measures.

To safeguard the interests of billions of Indian mobile and internet users, the Government of India has decided to block all the 118 apps including PUBG Mobile and its Lite version. which further ensures the safety and security of Indian Cyberspace.

Quick Fact

PUBG Mobile has over 33 million active users from India and almost 13 millions are daily users.

It is recommended to uninstall all the banned applications, as listed below.

1. APUS Launcher Pro- Theme, Live Wallpapers, Smart
2. APUS Launcher-Theme, Call Show, Wallpaper, HideApps
3. APUS Security -Antivirus, Phone Security, Cleaner
4. APUS Turbo Cleaner 2020- Junk Cleaner, Anti-Virus
5. APUS Flashlight-Free & Bright
6. Cut Cut – Cut Out & Photo Background Editor
7. Baidu
8. Baidu Express Edition
9. FaceU – Inspire your Beauty
10. ShareSave by Xiaomi: Latest gadgets, amazing deals
11. CamCard – Business Card Reader
12. CamCard Business
13. CamCard for Salesforce
14. CamOCR
15. InNote
16. VooV Meeting – Tencent Video Conferencing
17. Super Clean – Master of Cleaner, Phone Booster
18. WeChat reading
19. Government WeChat
20. Small Q brush
21. Tencent Weiyun
22. Pitu
23. WeChat Work
24. Cyber Hunter
25. Cyber Hunter Lite
26. Knives Out-No rules, just fight!
27. Super Mecha Champions
28. LifeAfter
29. Dawn of Isles
30. Ludo World-Ludo Superstar
31. Chess Rush
32. PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik
33. PUBG MOBILE LITE
34. Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade
35. Art of Conquest: Dark Horizon
36. Dank Tanks
37. Warpath
38. Game of Sultans
39. Gallery Vault – Hide Pictures And Videos
40. Smart AppLock (App Protect)
41. Message Lock (SMS Lock)-Gallery Vault Developer Team
42. Hide App-Hide Application Icon
43. AppLock
44. AppLock Lite
45. Dual Space – Multiple Accounts & App Cloner
46. ZAKZAK Pro – Live chat & video chat online
47. ZAKZAK LIVE: live-streaming & video chat app
48. Music – Mp3 Player
49. Music Player – Audio Player & 10 Bands Equalizer
50. HD Camera Selfie Beauty Camera
51. Cleaner – Phone Booster
52. Web Browser & Fast Explorer
53. Video Player All Format for Android
54. Photo Gallery HD & Editor
55. Photo Gallery & Album
56. Music Player – Bass Booster – Free Download
57. HD Camera – Beauty Cam with Filters & Panorama
58. HD Camera Pro & Selfie Camera
59. Music Player – MP3 Player & 10 Bands Equalizer
60. Gallery HD
61. Web Browser – Fast, Privacy & Light Web Explorer
62. Web Browser – Secure Explorer
63. Music Player – Audio Player
64. Video Player – All Format HD Video Player
65. Lamour Love All Over The World
66. Amour- video chat & call all over the world.
67. MV Master – Make Your Status Video & Community
68. MV Master – Best Video Maker & Photo Video Editor
69. APUS Message Center-Intelligent management
70. LivU Meet new people & Video chat with strangers
71. Carrom Friends : Carrom Board & Pool Game-
72. Ludo All Star- Play Online Ludo Game & Board Games
73. Bike Racing : Moto Traffic Rider Bike Racing Games
74. Rangers Of Oblivion : Online Action MMO RPG Game
75. Z Camera – Photo Editor, Beauty Selfie, Collage
76. GO SMS Pro – Messenger, Free Themes, Emoji
77. U-Dictionary: Oxford Dictionary Free Now Translate
78. Ulike – Define your selfie in trendy style
79. Tantan – Date For Real
80. MICO Chat: New Friends Banaen aur Live Chat karen
81. Kitty Live – Live Streaming & Video Live Chat
82. Malay Social Dating App to Date & Meet Singles
83. Alipay
84. AlipayHK
85. Mobile Taobao
86. Youku
87. Road of Kings- Endless Glory
88. Sina News
89. Netease News
90. Penguin FM
91. Murderous Pursuits
92. Tencent Watchlist (Tencent Technology
93. Learn Chinese AI-Super Chinese
94. HUYA LIVE – Game Live Stream
95. Little Q Album
96. Fighting Landlords – Free and happy Fighting Landlords
97. Hi Meitu
98. Mobile Legends: Pocket
99. VPN for TikTok
100. VPN for TikTok
101. Penguin E-sports Live assistant
102. Buy Cars-offer everything you need, special offers and low prices
103. iPick
104. Beauty Camera Plus – Sweet Camera & Face Selfie
105. Parallel Space Lite – Dual App
106. “Chief Almighty: First Thunder BC
107. MARVEL Super War NetEase Games
108. AFK Arena
109. Creative Destruction NetEase Games
110. Crusaders of Light NetEase Games
111. Mafia City Yotta Games
112. Onmyoji NetEase Games
113. Ride Out Heroes NetEase Games
114. Yimeng Jianghu-Chu Liuxiang has been fully upgraded
115. Legend: Rising Empire NetEase Games
116. Arena of Valor: 5v5 Arena Games
117. Soul Hunters
118. Rules of Survival

Source:

breaking: the Indian government has banned PUBG Mobile (Tencent) and 117 other Chinese apps

PUBG is the #1 app in India pic.twitter.com/HH3qacKNMu

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) September 2, 2020

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