At the moment, WhatsApp users can check the status of a message they sent by pressing on it until a list of option appears on the screen, including "Info."
The feature tells you whether the message has been "Delivered" and "Read." According to the WABetaInfo website, another feature will soon also be available — "Forwarding Info" — which will tell users how many time a specific message has been passed on further by the recipient.
In other words, if an enthusiastic cat owner films their pet and sends the clip to a friend or to a group chat of equally passionate cat lovers — the original sender will be able to check how many times a video showing their favourite furball has been forwarded via WhatsApp.
There is a trick to the process, as once a message has been forwarded more than 4 times, its Info status on the bubble will change to "Frequently forwarded" but won't show the exact number of times it was passed on by users, according to WABetaInfo.
In 2018, the company limited the forwarding feature for all users, and tested a lower limit of 5 chats at once in India, removing the quick forward button next to media messages.
"We believe that these changes — which we'll continue to evaluate — will help keep WhatsApp the way it was designed to be: a private messaging app," the tech giant said at the time.
It is not clear yet, when and whether WhatsApp's "Forwarding feature" will be introduced and whether it will display the exact number of time a certain type of content is sent on further or merely stick to the "Frequently forwarded" option.
