WhatsApp introduced ‘delete for everyone’ feature last year. this is a quite life-saving feature which let you recall the message that you sent accidentally.
Security Consultant Shitesh Sachan, noted that the feature was not working an intended with media files if the recipient using an iPhone and having WhatsApp feature Save to Camera Roll enabled.
This feature is available only for iPhone users and it can be enabled or enabled WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Save to Camera Roll.
The problem is that if a user having this feature enabled then automatically images will get saved in the device’s Camera Roll and it cannot be deleted. Because of security restriction with iOS that denies third-party apps in accessing device gallery without permission.
According to Shitesh Sachan findings shared with GBHackers On Security, if the sender accidentally posted a photo and if he wants to delete the message using ‘delete for everyone’ feature the message will get delete only from the Whatsapp chat thread and not from Gallery if the recipient uses the iOS device.
With the android device the feature works as intended, Whatsapp can delete the photo’s saved in the Gallery, but not with iOS device’s,
“WhatsApp should accept and tell to everybody that images will not get removed from Iphone users if they have enabled this feature or they should remove the item once user requested for that despite having that feature enabled,” Shitesh Sachan added.
The issue is more sensitive in the case of Whatsapp group’s that contains both iOS and Android users. If user A shared a confidential photo in the group, later he deletes the message using ‘delete for everyone’ feature it works only for Android devices and not for iOS devices.
WhatsApp explained in a statement shared to The Hacker News, that using ‘delete for everyone’ feature removes the media from the chat thread, but if the user selected to save with Camera Roll, then it is out of WhatsApp control.
WhatsApp possibly make changes in the future release, it is always safe to double-check the messages before sending it.
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