Signal’s latest feature makes disappearing messages the norm –4 weeks to 30 seconds – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The encrypted chat app Signal has announced a new update to its disappearing message feature. The messaging app will now enable anyone to turn on a default timer for disappearing messages. Signal introduced the disappearing message feature in 2016. The feature deletes chats for both the sender and receiver after a particular time limit. Earlier, users had to toggle the option on and also select the time interval for each individual conversation. With this new update, the company aims to reduce the storage space and also limit the amount of conversation history.
What is the time duration to set a disappearing message?
The app offers you nine options to set the timer for disappearing messages. You can set a timer from 30 seconds up to 4 weeks.
How is the disappearing message on Signal different from that on WhatsApp and Telegram?
With this new update, Signal now supports the ability to preconfigure all conversations you initiate with a default timer. Users can now set custom timer durations on their conversations so that some content can be gone in 60 seconds and others can exist for 18 minutes or 4 weeks.
On the other hand, you have to manually set the disappearing message on WhatsApp for all individual chats. The app also does not offer a custom timer and the chat will disappear after 7 days. Whereas, the Telegram users will first have to enable secret chats on the app to use the disappearing messages feature.
Can the receiver take a screenshot of the disappearing messages?
Signal has also warned users that the disappearing messages feature cannot guarantee utmost privacy as the receiver can take screenshots of the messages.
How to enable disappearing messages on desktop
Step 1: Firstly, open the Signal app on the desktop and go to ‘File’ followed by ‘Preferences’.
Step 2: After clicking on the ‘Preferences’ option, scroll down and find the ‘‘Default timer for new chats’ option under ‘Disappearing messages’. Now select ‘off’ from the dropdown option for tweaking the default disappearing message timer for the new chats.
Step 3: You can also choose either of the options for setting a default disappearing message timer.
Step 4: Now you can click on the ‘Custom time’ option and select the timer as per your preference and click ‘Set’.
How to set up disappearing messages on smartphones
Step 1: First open the Signal app on your smartphone.
Step 2: Now tap on the three dots places at the top right corner and then select ‘Settings’
Step 3: Now go to ‘Privacy’ from the Settings page where you will show an option of ‘default timer for new chats’ under the ‘Disappearing messages’ section.
Step 4: You can now select the duration as per requirement. After selecting tap on ‘Save’ to confirm the changes.