WhatsApp is currently testing a new feature called "view once" messages on iOS. As the name suggests, these messages can only be viewed once by the recipient before they disappear.
To use this feature, simply long-press the Send button, which will present an option to "Send as view once." After selecting this option, the message will be sent accordingly.
WhatsApp initially introduced this feature on Android earlier in the month, and it is now being rolled out on iOS. While the view once option is already available for photos, videos, and voice messages, this expansion to text messages aims to cover all types of content.
View once text messages will function in both one-on-one chats and group chats, but they will not be available in channels. Currently, this feature is under internal testing by WhatsApp developers and has not yet entered a public beta phase. It's worth noting that this new functionality differs from a previously tested feature revealed in May, which allowed messages to 'expire' after a set period of time; the current feature strictly enables one-time viewing before the message is deleted.
