Many mysteries and Spy movies are based on the premise that you can send self-destructing messages, but you don’t have to be an international agent to do the same with your own messages.
In fact, most popular chat apps these days include some sort of disappearing message feature — meaning that if you don’t want to permanently record your conversation, you don’t have to. . In fact, Signal . encrypted messaging app make its message feature disappear default.
While it’s handy to have a chat archive to revisit for emotional and practical reasons (recipes, addresses, directions, etc.), there are times when you don’t want nothing saved. again. Here’s what to do.
The caveat here for all of these apps is that the people you’re communicating with can take a screenshot of what you’ve said — or, if the screenshot is blocked, they can take a screenshot. image with another device. Some of them promise to notify you if your message has been screenshotted or downloaded, but there is always a solution. That’s something to keep in mind when choosing who to chat with and how much to share.
Update, December 2021: We’ve updated the instructions for Signal, Snapchat, and Messenger (formerly Facebook Messenger.)
Signal
Disappearing messages in Signal was an option for all your chats, and it’s now available by default or as an individual conversation: You can switch between disappearing and snooping messages. permanently at any time in any sequence. To do this, tap the top banner in any series, then select Message disappears.
You can choose anywhere from one second to four weeks for your messages to live after they’ve been viewed (or select Off to turn the feature off). You can even set a custom timer — you can announce a message that will disappear after 60 seconds. An alert will appear in the chat whenever you change this setting, and anything you send from then on will follow the rules you’ve set.
To set a default expiration time for messages in all your chats, open the main app settings page and select Privacy and Default timer for new chats (Below Message disappears). This applies to any chats you start from then on, not to existing chats on your phone.
WhatsApp disappearing messages now only work with images and videos instead of text. Recipients have 14 days to view any content you’ve sent them, and it will disappear once viewed.
From within WhatsApp, open the chat you want to send the photo or video clip to, tap the camera icon at the bottom, then capture your content. You will see a small icon showing first in a circle, next to the send icon — tap it to make your message a disappearing image or video.
You can add a caption to a photo or clip, which disappears with it. Once you’ve sent anything, you won’t see it in the first place: You’ll just see a Photo or Video entry in the thread, with a small 1 icon next to it. The text will change to Opened when it is viewed.
Snapchat
Snapchat didn’t invent disappearing messages, but it certainly helped popularize them. Access the chat tab by clicking the second icon from the left along the bottom of the screen. From the main chat list screen, you can tap any contact to start a conversation, or tap the compose icon (bottom right) if the person you want to chat with isn’t on the screen.
Everything in the string, including text and images, will disappear when it is viewed. Either party in a 1-1 conversation can choose to permanently save something by long-pressing it — but you’ll be able to tell if this happens since it’ll stay on the screen.
