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Saturday, February 22, 2025  
23 Shaban 1446  

There is a privacy flaw with WhatsApp’s ‘View Once’ feature

The recurrence of such problems raises concerns about the long-term reliability of the feature

A significant privacy flaw affecting WhatsApp’s “View Once” feature has been discovered, allowing iPhone users to repeatedly access photos and videos intended for single viewing. The vulnerability, first reported by cybersecurity researcher Ramshath, was surprisingly simple to exploit.

By navigating to iPhone settings (Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage), locating the sender’s chat, and sorting media by “Newest,” users could circumvent the intended single-view limitation.

While the bug only affected iOS users, its implications were substantial given the vast number of iPhone users globally. Ramshath reported the issue to Meta’s bug bounty program, and Meta confirmed it was already aware and working on a solution. A patch has since been released in WhatsApp version 25.2.3 for iOS. Users are strongly urged to update their app immediately.

This is not the first instance of security vulnerabilities in WhatsApp’s “View Once” feature. A similar issue in September 2024 allowed access to self-destructing media via direct file URLs.

The recurrence of such problems raises concerns about the long-term reliability and security of the feature, particularly given Meta and WhatsApp’s emphasis on user privacy. The repeated breaches may cause users to reconsider sharing sensitive information using the “View Once” function.

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