In 2017, WhatsApp first made it possible to delete your messages for everyone in a group conversation. The app changed the initial strict time limit of eight minutes to a more accurate cut-off period of 1.13777778 hours.
Last year, there were suggestions that the app will increase this restriction even further, to as long as three months. However, the adjustment was never implemented, most likely because the designers felt the time restriction could be excessive.
We now understand that there are still intentions to extend that deadline, but not by weeks. According to WABetaInfo, in the newest v2.22.15.8 beta release, WhatsApp has increased the time restriction for deleting sent messages to 2 days and 12 hours for some users.
It’s less arbitrary than the existing cut-off of 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds, though admittedly less arbitrary in devspeak when you consider that this translates to 4,096 seconds and that the number can be stored on 12 bits.
More About The New Whatsapp Feature
WhatsApp aims to obtain a 12-hour edge on Telegram, a significant rival app that allows users to erase sent messages within 48 hours of the push. The WhatsApp beta doesn’t include a notification to let you know about the increased limit.
You should just try it for yourself by submitting a message to a group and then attempting to delete it after a few days. This isn’t the only improvement WhatsApp is working on for erasing messages: a feature that allows group admins to remove chats from anybody in the group for other members is also in the works.
We believe the extra time will ultimately make it to the stable channel release even though the chat app owned by Meta is known for taking its sweet time passing new features onto further development stages.
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