

This adds an extra layer of safety for those who use disappearing messages to preserve their privacy but may have trouble remembering to enable it after every single conversation. You can have your messages disappear after just a few seconds, or leave up them for several days. When the default is turned on, all messages will disappear after a certain amount of time has passed, the precise amount you can freely customize in the app’s settings. In addition to setting up a message to disappear after the fact, you can now set messages to disappear by default. “Signal will not profile the user, nor will it use any personal data from the device for financial gain.While Signal has had disappearing message functionality for a while now, a feature that’s becoming more popular with many chatting apps that allows you to erase your messages after a certain time has passed, a newly applied update has tweaked it slightly. “Data from the device can be used to target the user or even be sold to other platforms,” says Moore. Moore agrees, pointing out that Signal’s company ethos is more privacy-conscious compared to WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook.Īpple’s privacy labels show Signal’s iOS app collects a lot less data compared to WhatsApp. “Signal is the better platform because of its stance on privacy, encryption and other functionality,” says Sammons. Many people use both WhatsApp and Signal, but if you have a choice, Signal is probably the best platform for disappearing messages – and not just because it offers more features. One you have done so, a little timer icon should appear detailing the time you have set with the contact or group. In Signal, you can tap the contact or group name and set a time after which you wish the messages to disappear.


To use the feature on WhatsApp, tap the group or chat name at the top of the screen and scroll down to disappearing messages. How to use disappearing messages on WhatsApp and Signal

“This is not for situations where your contact is your adversary – after all, if someone who receives a disappearing message really wants a record of it, they can always use another camera to take a photo of the screen before the message disappears,” Signal warns on its support site.
