The popular Meta-owned messaging app, WhatsApp, continues to innovate and add new features to improve the user experience. Although not all the news is explained or understood well. One of the latest updates has generated some confusion among users due to the lack of clarity in its meaning. This is the flag symbol that appears in certain messages, whose function has been the subject of speculation on social networks.
Contrary to what has been spread on some networks, this new flag icon does not indicate that a screenshot of the conversation has been taken. In reality, this symbol is only displayed in conversations that have the ‘Temporary Messages’ function activated.
This new action allows users to delete all content from a conversation after a predefined period of time, which can be one, seven, or 90 days. It aims to improve user privacy and save device space by automatically deleting old messages.
What the flag symbol indicates is that the message has been selected by the user so that it will not be automatically deleted along with the other temporary messages. In other words, once the period set for temporary messages expires, those messages displaying the flag symbol will remain intact.
To select a message in this way, the user simply has to open a conversation or group that has the ‘Temporary Messages’ function activated and press and hold the message in question for a few seconds. A menu will appear from which the flag icon can be selected, indicating that this message will be retained even after the other temporary messages disappear.
It is important to note that this feature can be especially useful in group and individual chats to keep certain messages relevant or important that you do not want to automatically delete. Previously, this feature was represented by a star, but it has been updated with the new flag symbol for a better understanding of its meaning.
