Francis Muli
Facebook has launched vanish mode for its messenger and Instagram messages. A few weeks after launching a feature that would let messages disappear after seven days on Whatsapp, the company has now added the new vanish mode on its two other platforms.
Vanish mode will allow you to send texts, photos, voice messages, emoji and stickers which will disappear immediately after they have been viewed and the chat window has been closed. Facebook has been rolling out the feature slowly and some users may have alread encountered it on Messenger.
On Instagram, the mode is already active on DM especially if you send media. This writer noticed this when sending some photos to a contact. Within minutes of the contact viewing the photo, neither the sender nor the recipient can access it.
Read: Facebook Looking To Integrate Messenger With Whatsapp
Facebook’s ephemeral messaging is meant to attract the younger crowd who are wary about leaving their messaging footprints which could haunt them in the future. Snapchat already had the feature and Facebook seems to be borrowing quite a number of ideas from the social media platform.
Facebook CEO last year announced that the company would be taking a different approach, moving the focus away from the News feed and public posts and leaning more towards groups and private messaging.
Vanish mode is optional for users, as there are those who would wish to still access their messages. You can turn it on or off in the settings of a particular chat message. This makes it easier for you to save your conversations with the contacts that you trust.
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The mode is opt-in only, allowing users to turn it on once the other contact has enabled it. The most interesting thing about it, is that vanish mode seems well designed to protect your privacy. Should your contact take a screenshot of the message while the mode is enabled, you will receive a notification alerting you.
Facebook will also allow its users to report any contacts who violate the Vanish mode chat conduct. Although the violation details are still not clear.
Vanish mode is currently being rolled out and should be available globally soon. However, you can start getting aspects of the mode on DM on Instagram.
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