In this article
A voice message or a round video can be marked to play once before you send it. The control sits next to the send button while the recording is still yours to discard.
The awkward part is what it does to the recording itself: they get one listen, so everything you said has to land the first time.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Record a voice or video message that plays once.
- check_circle Say it in a way that survives a single hearing.
- check_circle Know what belongs in one and what does not.
- check_circle Cancel before sending rather than after.
The one-time control appears beside the recording while it is still a draft.
mic Write it for one hearing
An ordinary voice message can be played again, at a slower speed, or read as text. A one-time message cannot. Whatever the listener did not catch the first time is gone, and they cannot ask you to scroll back because there is nothing to scroll back to.
That changes how you should record. Say the important thing at the start rather than building to it. Keep it short enough to hold in a head. Avoid numbers, addresses and dates entirely — those belong in text, where they can be copied and checked, and putting them in a disappearing recording is a small unkindness.
What it is genuinely for is tone: an apology, an explanation, something difficult said in a voice rather than in words that can be screenshotted and quoted later. That is a real use, and it is the only one that needs this mode.
Four things to decide before sending
The third is the one people get wrong.
fiber_manual_record Before you press send
record_voice_over One hearing only
block Wrong container
videocam Which of the two
One take from you, one listen from them. Lead with the point and keep facts in text.
settings Recording one
- Find somewhere quiet There is no second hearing.
- Lock the recording Rather than holding the button.
- Lead with the point And keep it short.
- Listen back before sending While it is still a draft.
- Turn on the one-time control Last.
- Send the facts separately as text Where they can be reread.
This page makes one message temporary. The curriculum step is a whole conversation built that way: what a secret chat changes, what it refuses to do, and when the extra friction is worth it.
At a glance
- 1View-once voice
Record a voice or video message that plays once.
- 2Say it clearly
Keep it short and put the point first.
- 3Listen before sending
It cannot be corrected after it is opened.
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