Bug Lets Anyone Bypass WhatsApp’s ‘View Once’ Privacy Feature
WhatsApp, the widely used messaging app with over two billion users, has recently faced a critical security issue involving its ‘View Once’ privacy feature. This flaw, discovered in the web app version of WhatsApp, undermines the feature's purpose by allowing users to bypass its intended protections. The ‘View Once’ feature was introduced to give users more control over the privacy of the media they share, but this bug has raised significant concerns about the effectiveness of these privacy measures. This article explores the details of the bug, its implications, WhatsApp’s response, and the broader impact on user privacy. 1. Overview of WhatsApp’s ‘View Once’ Feature Introduced in 2021, WhatsApp’s ‘View Once’ feature was designed to enhance user privacy by allowing media—such as photos and videos—to disappear after being viewed once. This feature aims to prevent recipients from saving or sharing the content, thus providing a temporary glimpse into the media without leaving a perman…
