WhatsApp’s disappearing message feature offers an optional system for erasing messages that are confidential or unnecessary documents from your device.
Also, depending on the time you select, the deletion occurs on both the sender and receiver’s end within 4 hours, 7 days, or 90 days after the message(s) were sent.
It is important to consider certain things before you activate the disappearing messages feature because you can’t retrieve your messages when you do.
In this article, you will get to know what it means when someone turns on disappearing messages on WhatsApp.
10 Likely Meanings When Someone Turns On Disappearing Messages On WhatsApp
When someone turns on disappearing messages on WhatsApp, it could mean different things depending on the person’s intent. In most cases, it could be for a genuine reason, but I can’t really say unless you look at the following options to perceive a possible reason.
- It shows that someone wishes to use less storage space on their phone.
- It shows that someone wants a confidential conversation.
- It can be that person want to send dirty messages on WhatsApp.
- It is because that person doesn’t want someone to make reference to their older messages.
- It proves that a person wants to ignore hurtful words or forget past disheartening experiences.
- It means that person wants to clear your chat history in an official manner.
- It proves that a person wants to act irresponsibly.
- It describes that person as immoral or secretive.
- It shows that person wants to cheat or steal from you.
- It means that the person is not trustworthy.
It Shows That Someone Wishes To Use Less Storage Space On Their Phone
If someone wants to reduce the number of documents and files on their phone, they can activate the WhatsApp disappearing messages feature.
It is normal to know that someone gets a lot of unplanned images and videos in their gallery, and this can overload that person’s phone storage capacity.
And you will accept that no one wants their phone to store files that are not so useful or necessary at a point in time. This happens a lot among college student groups on WhatsApp.
Aside from uploading snapshots of assignment questions or previous examination questions, they sometimes upload a lot of random funny pictures, funny memes, or videos taken during lectures to make fun of their mates.
He or she may not turn on disappearing messages on students’ WhatsApp groups, but in private chats or even when chatting with you, because he or she may not want to store unimportant messages on their phone to reduce memory load.
This memory load could reduce your phone’s speed, cause it to glitch, or even crash.
There is a possibility that someone lost their important data due to full storage issues, and that person wants to prevent that from happening again.
It Shows That Someone Wants A Confidential Conversation
Proof that someone wants their conversation with you or anyone else to be confidential is seen when they turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp.
Just like a situation where two people can excuse themselves from the public to have a private chat, someone may want their conversation to be within a circle.
In this case, he or she does not want the information shared with a person or among a group of people to get to the public.
In most cases, this happens between colleagues at work, maybe on a new development or a new policy they don’t accept.
Additionally, someone can also enable disappearing messages to keep a secret code, ingredients, or information.
If they do this to people on an “official basis,” then it is quite acceptable since deleting messages over and over again is suspicious, but when the disappearing messages feature is turned on, the person’s chat box looks very neat.
It Can Be That The Person Wants To Send Dirty Messages On WhatsApp
It is possible that when a person wants to send dirty messages on WhatsApp, he or she will turn on the disappearing messages feature.
In this case, the sender may not be sure that the person responding to his or her messages will tolerate such chats, so that person turns on the feature so that the message doesn’t save for a long time in their chat histories.
Whether or not the recipient accepts the conversation, the person who sends dirty messages may be safe because the disappearing messages feature prevents such chats from being saved in WhatsApp’s history, and since that person may not be caught sending them, he may lie about it.
Again, by the time the receiver gets to report the act, the messages may disappear without leaving any trace.
It Is Because That Person Doesn’t Want Someone To Make Reference To Their Older Messages
To avoid reference to older messages, someone can turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp to wipe out messages in the history section too.
This leaves the person he or she is chatting with or has had a conversation with in the past with no texts to make reference to in the future.
It could be that person had a fight with his girlfriend, boyfriend, or anyone at all. And, in order to avoid any scene of reference, reminding him or her of a promise made or even a commitment broken, he or she may disable WhatsApp’s disappearing messages.
This feature does a great job in that regard, except if the recipient has a screenshot or forwarded the messages or a part of his or her messages where he or she made a commitment to promise.
It Proves That A Person Wants To Ignore Hurtful Words Or Forget Past Disheartening Experiences
In order to ignore unpleasant words and forget about past happenings, especially unpleasant ones, a person can turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp.
If someone gets hurtful messages from a close relative, boss, or even parents, they can turn on disappearing messages to sustain their emotional health.
Not so many people are emotionally intelligent to the point of tolerating words that hurt someone’s feelings.
There is a likelihood that person is a part of that category, and in a bid to respect higher authorities, colleagues, or even subordinates, he or she may activate the app to erase those messages in a polite manner.
Also, someone might not want to go back and read heartbreaking messages from their boyfriend or girlfriend since it could lead to more depression or crazy thoughts.
It could be a step towards that person’s recovery from a traumatic event, which is recorded on WhatsApp.
It may not simply be something that is history, but if a particular person loves talking about the incident while he or she is trying to move on, this could involve the death of a loved one, news of a national crisis, or any provocative message in general.
It Means That Person Wants To Clear Your Chat History In An Official Manner
When you notice that a person turns on disappearing messages on WhatsApp, it could be a hint that he or she wants to clear your chat in a coded way, leaving no trace whatsoever.
This happens frequently between gossip partners in a case where the initiator or the person that leaks confidential information needs to clear the gossip or get implicated with the messages as proof. So, he or she could be the initiator or contributor of the gossip.
And in order to clear the evidence and not leave suspicion of ‘deleted messages’ here and there, he or she then turns on the disappearing messages on WhatsApp.
Again, he or she might have a lot of envious people around them. Aside from the occasions when they spread false news, that person tends to trust no one and does not want others to see his or her weaknesses or capabilities.
And that person doesn’t want his closest friend to know that he doesn’t trust anyone, even him, so he turns on disappearing messages on WhatsApp to clear their chats in an official manner.
It Proves That A Person Wants To Act Irresponsibly
It is possible that when someone made a wrong move, and they want to act irresponsibly, he or she can turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp.
This boils up to erasing all memories of ‘I told you’ situations. Maybe they don’t want to assume responsibility.
Just like many people in a state of dilemma, they might have sought counsel from a friend, colleague, or teacher on a pressing issue. And after counseling, they may feel what is shared is not best for them.
In most cases, that person may not ask further to know why that counsel was given, but since they are rebellious, he or she makes a contrary choice.
Subsequently, that person may begin to receive messages from the counselor to know the progress so far, rendering more guidance while the other has gone astray.
When someone’s personal plan fails, that person may turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp so that they don’t keep track of their conversations and he or she doesn’t get the ‘I told you’ blame.
Since there is no visible proof and that person can lie about it or give excuses to escape responsibility.
It Describes That Person As Immoral Or Secretive
A secretive person can turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp. It means that person wants to hide something, and you should be careful to forward or screenshot their promises and commitments before they disappear.
If that person is a married man, there is a likelihood that he is seeing another woman. If the person in question is a married woman, then she might be cheating on her husband.
The same applies to people in relationships. Why on earth would a person turn on disappearing messages if he or she is not hiding something? There are only a few exceptions.
That person may be planning a kidnapping, a robbery, or a social vice. In certain scenarios, the person who does that is doing something wrong and morally unacceptable.
Therefore, I see no reason why a spouse should meet an empty inbox when her partner spends the early hours of the day chatting with an unsaved phone number.
It Shows That Person Wants To Cheat Or Steal From You
When a person turns on disappearing messages on WhatsApp, watch out, because that person may be planning to cheat you.
If that person is an online vendor, don’t pay for any product yet till after further clarification, because if your messages disappear, you no longer have evidence that you purchased a particular kind or standard of product online but got something else.
Your bank statement or notification may be proof of payment, but you may not be able to prove that you requested a particular kind or quality of product, not the one shipped to you.
The vendor will simply keep on putting pressure on you so that will rush the payments.
If someone wants you to agree on a deal, and they turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp, you may not have any proof that you had a deal, but after taking out their benefits, they leave you in the dark.
It Means that Person Is Not Trustworthy
People who are not worthy of trust practice this a lot. They do not take time to turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp.
If you are dating such a person, they may use the features of the disappearing message on WhatsApp to hide the truth that they are double dating or still visiting their ex.
Conclusion
The disappearing messages feature on WhatsApp is a reliable means for people who enjoy privacy.
You can enable this feature to leave no trace of private messages, and you are assured that the messages will be deleted according to the time you set.
On your end, you need to make sure that you keep track of useful information so you don’t regret using the disappearing feature because once your messages are gone, you cannot retrieve them anymore.
In this article, possible reasons why a person will turn on disappearing messages on WhatsApp have been shared. I hope that you don’t turn out to be a victim of this cool WhatsApp feature after reading this.
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