Although WhatsApp is renowned for its robust privacy measures, a recent issue in its “View Once” function caused iPhone users to become extremely concerned. A flaw in this function allowed recipients to view the content again, even though it was designed to allow users to send films and images that vanish after being viewed once.
‘View Once’ Bug on iPhones
This security vulnerability has been fixed in the most recent WhatsApp update for iOS (version 25.2.3). To make sure their “View Once” notifications function as intended, users can now download the update from the App Store.
- WhatsApp has added other features in addition to this issue fix, such as:
- The capability of making phone calls without storing a person’s number
- A feature that allows members to be chosen before a group call begins
- The ability to invite others to a continuous call
How Discovered
When a user by the name of Ramshath described the issue in a Medium article, it became apparent. WhatsApp said that they were actively working on a fix after acknowledging the incident.
Remarkably, security researcher Tal Be’ery initially identified a similar vulnerability on WhatsApp Web in September of last year, even though the “View Once” feature is not supported on WhatsApp Web. The iPhone version remained vulnerable—until now—despite the fact that the flaw was eventually addressed in December.
How Did Bug Work
The “View Once” restriction was effectively circumvented by this issue, enabling users to view vanishing images and movies once more. WhatsApp’s storage management options, which allow users to filter media according to the “newest” option, made it possible. Users could access “View Once” content even after accessing it in conversation thanks to this inadvertent flaw.
WhatsApp wallpaper