WhatsApp’s ‘Delete for Everyone’ tool isn’t quite as reliable as you might think, if a newly-discovered bug is anything to go by.
Messages that have been quoted by other users can still be read on their handset, even after they’ve been deleted by the original sender.
The revelation follows another flaw, discovered last year, that let people recover deleted messages.
WhatsApp’s ‘Delete for Everyone’ tool isn’t quite as reliable as you might think, if a newly discovered bug is anything to go by. Messages that have been quoted by other users can still be read on their handset, even after they’ve been deleted by the original sender
Dutch tech site The Next Web, who first reported the issue, noticed that quoted messages sent in group chats were still shown after they had been erased.
MailOnline replicated the issue in private chats and found the same problem.
While the original message disappears, replaced by the text ‘This message was deleted’, the same did not apply in the quoted reply.
Writing on The Next Web, Dimitar Mihov said: ‘We noticed that quoted messages in group chats continue to show in quotes even after they have been wiped.
‘Attempting the same thing in a private chat bred the exact same results.
‘It would appear that this is another instance of the classic “it’s a feature, not a bug” conundrum.’
MailOnline has contacted WhatsApp for a comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
This is not the first time that issues have been uncovered with the ‘delete for everyone’ feature.
It was one of WhatsApp’s most highly-anticipated functions when it was introduced in October 2017.
WhatsApp introduced a ‘delete for everyone’ feature in October 2017, allowing users to unsend an embarrassing message within seven minutes of sending it. This is not the first time that issues have been uncovered with the feature
In November 2017, Android Jefe noticed a workaround that allowed Android users to view unsent messages. The first 100 characters of the message appear in the line starting with ‘android.text’ in the notifications log
Shortly after, in November 2017, Android Jefe, a Spanish Android blog, noticed a workaround that allows Android users to view unsent messages.
Whenever a notification comes in to an Android devices, it is stored in the notification log – whether or not it is subsequently deleted by the sender.
While the bulk of the data in the log is technical information, the first 100 characters of the notification message are also recorded.
So while users may not be able to see the message within WhatsApp after it is deleted, they can still see it in the notification log – which can be accessed in two ways.
Firstly, users can create a home screen Settings widget, in which a ‘Notification Registration’ option will appear, according to Android Jefe.
Alternatively users can download a notification history app, which displays a list of all your recent notifications.
The first 100 characters of the message will appear in the line starting with ‘android.text.’
During MailOnline’s testing, the recipient had to have read the message before it was deleted for it to appear in the Notification Log.