Disappearing and vanishing messages on communication apps have been all the rage, so it is about time that Facebook-owned apps joined the party.
Now you can make your Facebook and Instagram messages vanish.
Facebook has been testing the disappearing message feature on all its messaging services including WhatsApp. Now both Messenger and Instagram are officially getting the Vanish Mode.
This new feature will allow you to send messages that disappear from the chat history entirely.
This is how to send disappearing messages on Instagram.
1. Open Messages on Instagram by tapping the new Messenger icon on the top right corner.
2.Select who you want to send a disappearing message to, by tapping the messages and searching the username of that person.
3. On the chat page, enter the Vanish mode by swiping up on your chat. It is worth noting that the other party will also have to enable the new feature.
Once you enter this mode, your chat screen will go black and you’ll see a note at the top telling that you’ve entered Vanish Mode.
4. In this vanish mode, you can send photos, videos, or texts in and specify how many times you want your message to be opened from options. Select ’View Once’ which only allows the message to be seen one time, select ’Allow Replay’ which allows a replay of your message once more, or ’Keep in Chat’ which keeps a preview visible in your thread.
6. Now send your sneaky message.
You can also send messages that disappear on WhatsApp by enabling disappearing messages.
Once enabled, new messages sent in the individual or group chat will disappear after seven days. This setting won’t affect messages you previously sent or received in the chat.
“In an individual chat, either user can turn disappearing messages on or off. In a group chat, only group admins can turn disappearing messages on or off,” said WhatsApp in a FAQ post.
“If a user doesn’t open WhatsApp in the seven day period, the message will disappear. However, the preview of the message might still be displayed in notifications until WhatsApp is opened. When you reply to a message, the initial message is quoted. If you reply to a disappearing message, the quoted text might remain in the chat after seven days.”
If a disappearing message is forwarded to a chat with disappearing messages off, the message won’t disappear in the forwarded chat.
However, if a user creates a backup before a message disappears, the disappearing message will be included in the backup. Disappearing messages will be deleted when a user restores from a backup.
Users should only use disappearing messages with trusted individuals. It is still possible for someone to forward or take a screenshot of a disappearing message and save it before it disappears, copy and save content from the disappearing message before it disappears or take a photo of a disappearing message with a camera or other device before it disappears.
Media you receive in WhatsApp will be automatically downloaded to your photos. If disappearing messages are turned on, media sent in the chat will disappear, but will be saved on the phone if auto-download is on. You can turn auto-download off in WhatsApp Settings > Data and Storage Usage.
This is how to turn disappearing messages on or off
1. Open the WhatsApp chat and tap the contact’s name.
2. Tap on Disappearing messages option and if prompted, tap CONTINUE.
3. Once you have done that, select On. Select off to disable disappearing messages.
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