Take a look at some of the new features coming to WhatsApp in 2020

Remember when Snapchat was known for its self-destructing messages? The app's first appearance on PhoneArena came on May 7th, 2012 after being the subject of a story in The New York Times. Since these messages often contained X-rated images, Apple originally put a warning on the app's App Store listing that recommended Snapchat for those 12 and older. It also warned users of "mild sexual content or nudity."  Of course, Snapchat went on to develop the first "Stories" feature which has since been copied more successfully by Instagram and others. It also created the Lenses feature that uses AR to turn you into a slice of pizza or a puppy.

While self-destructing messages are no longer the reason for Snapchat's popularity, it appears that messaging app WhatsApp plans on adding the feature next year. Unlike the former, the latter is a serious communications tool that offers end-to-end encryption and does away with the filters, stories, and lenses that appeal to teens and millennials. U.K. publication The Sun published a list of new features that could be added to the popular app in 2020 and a feature that automatically deletes messages is on it. Users will be able to select how long a message will say visible until it is deleted; options include one hour, one day, one week, one month and one year (who else thought of the theme song from Friends?). And a message could be selected to stay on WhatsApp for perpetuity by merely selecting the option that turns off the delete feature. The self-destructing message feature will work with one-on-one and group messages.

Also expected to hit WhatsApp in 2020 is Dark Mode. If we had a buck for every time we heard that this feature was coming to the messaging app, we'd have a brand new flagship phone to use each day of the week. The latest such story was passed along to you on Christmas Eve and said that the feature is coming soon to both the iOS and Android versions of the app. Dark Mode will reportedly link with your phone's Battery Saver mode to turn on automatically when you're trying to sip energy instead of gulping it down. And with a black background, those using a phone with an AMOLED display will be able to save some battery life with Dark Mode enabled. That's because the color black is created on such panels by turning off the appropriate pixels; pixels that are turned off do not need to draw any power from the battery.

If you've ever watched Catfish the TV Show, you've seen host Nev Schulman use reverse image search to check the legitimacy of a photo. This is supposedly coming to WhatsApp next year although it is still being tested. Users will be able to conduct a reverse image search on a photo sent using WhatsApp, which will search for the source of the image using Google.

Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that any of these features will be found on WhatsApp next year, or at any time.

Facebook closed on its purchase of WhatsApp in October 2014; because the value of Facebook's stock rose after the deal was agreed to, the purchase price came to an amount over $21 billion. Since Facebook doesn't break out data for its individual apps, the latest information from this year shows that WhatsApp has approximately 1.6 billion monthly active users. That makes it the third most widely used social platform after Facebook and YouTube and the number one global messaging app. WhatsApp has more users than rivals such as Facebook Messenger (1.3 billion MAUs), WeChat (1.112 billion), and Instagram (1 billion).

If you're looking for a secure messaging app, you can install WhatsApp on your iOS device or download it on your Android device.