New option for WhatsApp beta

New option for WhatsApp beta to hide the Meta AI shortcut

Meta is making an AI push on all of its platforms with the Meta AI assistant. The company have started testing the AI assistant on WhatsApp, with the beta versions of the Android and iOS apps getting a shortcut to the assistant above the list of chats for quick access. Meta AI is an optional feature which WhatsApp users can ignore completely without having their experience affected, and it looks like Meta knows that. The latest beta version of the app for Android devices introduces the option to remove the Meta AI button from the Chats tab. The option is available in the Chats section of the app's settings and is beginning to pop up for some beta users.

Meta AI is like any other virtual assistant and can show real-time information from the web (using Microsoft Bing) for search queries and also offer context-based suggestions for discussions inside both individual and group chats. The assistant will also get various AI characters to make interaction with it more fun, and while interesting thing is that, not everyone will want to bring AI into their chatting and messaging experience, and it's an optional feature for all users.

The option to remove the Meta AI shortcut is available on version 2.23.25.15 of the WhatsApp beta app on Android for some users and will likely make its way to iOS in near future. As for the standard non-beta version of the app, it has neither the AI assistant nor the option to hide it at this time, and it's unclear when that will change. WhatsApp, like most social messaging apps, supports disappearing messages, a feature that automatically deletes a message after a particular period of time. WhatsApp users can also send images and videos which can only be viewed once before these are automatically deleted.

These features are available on both Android and iOS, and they were also available on the desktop and web versions of the app. Earlier, WhatsApp removed the ability to send view once photos and videos from the desktop and web apps to make things more secure. But WhatsApp is now reversing the decision and working to bring back the view once feature to its desktop (Windows, MacOS) and web clients.