The trend of self-deleting or disappearing messages in social media apps is not new. Snapchat brought more meaning to ephemeral messages and recently, Facebook added the functionality of self-disappearing messages after 7 days in WhatsApp also. Now, this feature is coming in the form of ‘Vanish Mode’ on Facebook Messenger too.
This Vanish Mode will erase all your messages once you leave a chat conversation. According to Facebook, some things are not meant to last, and sometimes it is more important for people to live in the moment and not worry about what they said in the past! So, you can easily have some intimate conversation with your trusted contacts over Facebook Messenger, without worrying about it because once you leave the chat, if the Vanish Mode is enabled, all your messages will self-delete.
Now, similar functionality is already there in Messenger. You can set a time limit for your messages in Facebook Messenger’s ‘secret conversations’ option. Because of your time limit, the messages will auto-erase after your set limit has reached.
But Vanish Mode is actually much simpler to use. It is just a ‘swipe-up,’ and ‘swipe-down’ that is required for this feature to function, and once enabled, it can put your mind at ease. You will also have the option to turn it off if you wish.
Now, the important things to remember are that you can use Vanish Mode in conversations with people with whom you are connected. So, it probably will not work with the random messages we receive in our ‘Other’ inbox, and this means that if some stranger with whom you are not connected, sends in a creepy or lewd message, it will not auto-disappear, and will always remain there for you if you want to take an action against it to curb cybercrime.
Secondly, if someone takes a screenshot of your chat while you have enabled the Vanish Mode in the conversation, you will immediately be notified about it.
This will make you aware of whether the other person is trustworthy or not, and you can easily block that person, or report the conversation to Facebook if you feel unsafe or if you sense something fishy going on.
Perhaps, this feature will bring more sense of security for young users over Messenger, but as a downside, it will also encourage them to exchange any kind of messages with their contacts without ever worrying about the consequences. Morally, this is not going to sit well with a lot of people.
Anyway, Facebook is bringing this feature soon for Instagram’s DMs too.
At the moment, this Vanish Mode has rolled out on Messenger in the US and some other countries, and soon it will come in different other regions too.
This Vanish Mode will erase all your messages once you leave a chat conversation. According to Facebook, some things are not meant to last, and sometimes it is more important for people to live in the moment and not worry about what they said in the past! So, you can easily have some intimate conversation with your trusted contacts over Facebook Messenger, without worrying about it because once you leave the chat, if the Vanish Mode is enabled, all your messages will self-delete.
Now, similar functionality is already there in Messenger. You can set a time limit for your messages in Facebook Messenger’s ‘secret conversations’ option. Because of your time limit, the messages will auto-erase after your set limit has reached.
But Vanish Mode is actually much simpler to use. It is just a ‘swipe-up,’ and ‘swipe-down’ that is required for this feature to function, and once enabled, it can put your mind at ease. You will also have the option to turn it off if you wish.
Now, the important things to remember are that you can use Vanish Mode in conversations with people with whom you are connected. So, it probably will not work with the random messages we receive in our ‘Other’ inbox, and this means that if some stranger with whom you are not connected, sends in a creepy or lewd message, it will not auto-disappear, and will always remain there for you if you want to take an action against it to curb cybercrime.
Secondly, if someone takes a screenshot of your chat while you have enabled the Vanish Mode in the conversation, you will immediately be notified about it.
This will make you aware of whether the other person is trustworthy or not, and you can easily block that person, or report the conversation to Facebook if you feel unsafe or if you sense something fishy going on.
Perhaps, this feature will bring more sense of security for young users over Messenger, but as a downside, it will also encourage them to exchange any kind of messages with their contacts without ever worrying about the consequences. Morally, this is not going to sit well with a lot of people.
Anyway, Facebook is bringing this feature soon for Instagram’s DMs too.
At the moment, this Vanish Mode has rolled out on Messenger in the US and some other countries, and soon it will come in different other regions too.
