Skip to main content

WhatsApp ``Delete for Everyone`` Does Not Delete Media Files Sent to iPhone Users.

By Editor
Mistakenly sent a picture to someone via WhatsApp that you shouldn't have?
Well, we've all been there, but what's more unfortunate is that the 'Delete for Everyone' feature WhatsApp introduced two years ago contains an unpatched privacy bug, leaving its users with false sense of privacy.
WhatsApp and its rival Telegram messenger offer "Delete for Everyone," a potentially life-saving feature on which millions of people today rely to escape the awkwardness of sending messages/pictures/videos to the wrong person.
As the name indicates, the 'Delete for Everyone' feature has been intended to unsend mistakenly sent inappropriate messages—including photos and videos—from the recipient's phone, or all members of a group.
In the case of WhatsApp, the feature is only available within 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds of sending a message you want to delete.
However, it turns out that WhatsApp 'Delete for Everyone' feature doesn't delete media files sent to iPhone users (with default settings) as it does from the Android devices, leaving them saved on the recipient's iOS device even if the messenger chat screen displays you, "This message has been deleted."
According to Shitesh Sachan, an application security consultant, who found this privacy issue and shared his findings exclusively with The Hacker News, the feature for WhatsApp for iOS has not been designed to delete received media files saved in the iPhone's Camera Roll.
On the other hand, if you use 'Delete for Everyone' against an Android user, WhatsApp will delete the sent media files from the recipient device's gallery as well.
It concerns because WhatsApp by default automatically saves all images/videos you receive via WhatsApp to your iPhone's Camera Roll or Android's Media Gallery, which otherwise can be turned OFF from the app's settings, but very few people care about it.
Earlier this week, a similar privacy flaw was disclosed in the "Delete for Everyone" feature of the Telegram messenger, which the company patched immediately to keep the feature useful in situations for which it has primarily been designed.
However, when Sachan reported this issue to WhatsApp, the company refused to address the issue, saying:
"The functionality provided via "Delete for Everyone" is intended to delete the message and there is no guarantee that the media (or message) will be permanently deleted—the implementation focuses around the message presence in WhatsApp."
WhatsApp Security team also argued that the "recipients may see your message before it's deleted or if deletion wasn't successful," but the feature was not even designed to save you from out-of-the-hand scenarios where recipients move or save the media file manually or screenshot the chat.
Though WhatsApp said "there is no guarantee a message or the attachments will be deleted," the company said it might make changes to this functionality and its implementation in the future.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UGANDA ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO ELIMINATE NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARDS (IDs) FOR 2021 GENERAL ELECTIONS.

By Editor
The elimination of using National IDs (Ndagamuntu) for the 2021 elections should not have come as a surprise. One would be very NAIVE to think that Bobi Wine has not prepared for this in his Business Plan under the RISK section. It is public knowledge that our EC is not independent.  It is also public knowledge that Military Dictator Yoweri Museveni will never lose an election. What stunned us this morning is when we noticed that on social media, people were mocking Bobi with his "get your Ndagamuntu".  We are on record for saying to all Our readers that the National ID is like Apartheid in South Africa. Students of History would know how those IDs were being used to arrest people, deny them jobs, deny them basic services. Consequently, Bobi was not wrong and will never be wrong on the Ndagamuntu. Except the ones attacking him and mocking him forget that in Uganda, now, no National ID (Ndagamuntu), no service.  If you have not been denied registering your child i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Here is Why Our Utterances For Praying Jesus And God To Come Liberate Ugandans, May Be Misplaced. This Phrase is like inform of a Letter To Some Categorized Section Of Ugandans.

By Editor
https://m.facebook.com/yusufosuta/photos/a.1896701010557789/2070383359856219/?type=3 OPEN LETTER TO NRM SUPPORTERS - NATIONAL ROBBERS MOVEMENT. .................................................................................. Last week of March, a friend told me to pray for Uganda.  I told him that he was an Idiot and we have prayed for too long and we are still hungry and sick and Jesus is not coming soon to liberate us. He then ignored the STUPID and sent me a picture we all now know.  It got me totally messed up.  This guy was telling me to pray then sends a picture of men bowing down in blood.  He might have meant guns but I blocked him because his utterances of praying for Uganda were misplaced. I unblocked him 3 weeks later and asked him about praying and assassinations.  His reply "eithrr prayers or guns or both". I hate violence with a passion.  So he is now blocked in like FOREVER. Do you feel safe?  Do not feel safe. Uganda regim...
Post a Comment
Read more

CAN I CHANGE MY MIND ABOUT THE INHERITANCE I RECEIVED AND ASK FOR SOMETHING ELSE ?.

By Editor
#iip_updates . #Information_is_Power . Read more here https://informationispowah.blogspot.com/2023/07/can-i-change-my-mind-about-inheritance.html in the link. #we_inform_the_uninformed . Okello lost his wife 20 years ago and decided to only focus on their Mateo, Yona and Yosefu. 20 years later, Okello had 7 acres of land, a successful poultry business, and sinotrucks for hire. Early this year, Okello got a call telling him that one of his trucks knocked a boda boda. Okello decided to rush to see if he could sort it out before police became involved. Unfortunately, he never made it, as he was entering the main road, another trailer rammed into him and killed him instantly.   After Okello had been laid to rest, his sons sat down and divided the property amongst themselves. However, of late, Yosefu the last born has started complaining that he was cheated, and he wants to be given something else because most of the chicken in the chicken business died of a fever.   Can ...
Post a Comment
Read more