New in v4.4 (Testflight Beta):
- disappearing messages (with mutual agreement)!
- live messages – they update for all recipients as you type them.
- connection security code verification, for contacts and group members – protect from MITM attacks.
- send animated images and “stickers” (e.g., from GIF and PNG files and 3rd party keyboards)
Not entirely sure “mutual agreement” makes sense? I would need to read more about it, but my feeling is that it is reasonable to have the sender of the message set the terms here.
Why would anyone want that? Is there a way to disable that?
This is fundamentally impossible thanks to the analog loophole. The receiver can always copy down the message to a notepad, or just remember it. Exposing this mutual agreement is staying honest and make sure that it is understood by everyone involved.
It is important to remember that disappearing messages (in any application) are only helpful for people who you trust currently. (And until the messages are deleted.)
There is another use case for disappearing messages: protection against domestic violence. If the violent partner checks the victim’s device, seeing messages might incite an attack.
This is the same. You trust the recipient but don’t wan the messages to be stored for a long time.
Sure, no question about it. Still, how the feature is designed matters, and I feel a design requiring both parties to consent to disappearing messages before they are enabled is bad design in this case.
One of the reasons why is: you might want to send some sensitive messages to someone while they are away/offline/unavailable. Being able to enable disappearing messages and then send what you need to send is quite important.
There’s a 4chan-like site that has this “live” feature, it’s really fun and honestly doesn’t get old. There were people really bad at typing, but it wasn’t such a big deal, and even better if you’re chatting with friends.