Disappearing messages feature serves as a neat way to send messages without leaving a trace or history. If you’ve been wondering how to get started with disappearing messages, here’s all you need to know to enable and use the feature on popular messaging platforms namely Telegram, Signal, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

1. Send Disappearing Messages on Telegram

If you’ve read our WhatsApp vs Telegram vs Signal comparison, you’re probably aware of the fact that Telegram’s secret chat feature is end-to-end encrypted. You should create a secret chat to send disappearing messages and media on Telegram. To get started, open the contact’s profile page and tap on ‘Start secret chat.’

  • Send Disappearing Messages on Telegram
  • Send Disappearing Messages on Signal
  • Send Disappearing Messages on Instagram
  • Send Disappearing Messages on WhatsApp

All messages and media you send to the contact through secret chat after setting the self-destruct timer will expire after the defined time. Do keep in mind that this setting doesn’t affect the nature of normal Telegram chats with the same person.

If you’re someone who recently switched from WhatsApp to Signal, you’ll be glad to know that Signal’s disappearing messages implementation is much better than WhatsApp. To use the feature, open a chat, tap on the vertical three dots menu in the right corner, and choose ‘Disappearing messages.’ You can now set the duration starting from 5 seconds to 1 week.

Coming to Instagram, Facebook recently introduced vanish mode as part of its Instagram Direct-Facebook Messenger integration. As a result, you can swipe up from any Instagram DM to start a private chat window where messages disappear when you close the chat. Similarly, you can swipe up again to exit vanish mode.

If you’re looking for an option to send Snapchat-style self-destructing media, you don’t have to enable vanish mode. Instead, tap on the camera button in the bottom left corner, choose the image/video, and switch to the ‘View Once’ tab. Once you’re here, tap on ‘Send’ to send the image.

After all mainstream messaging platforms, WhatsApp added disappearing messages in November last year. However, you can’t customize the self-destruct timer’s duration here. All messages sent via disappearing messages mode on WhatsApp disappear after 7 days, which isn’t ideal if you ask me. You can read more on why WhatsApp’s disappearing messages should not be your first choice for sending sensitive images here, but here’s the method if you consider giving the feature a shot.

Use Disappearing Messages Mode While Sending Sensitive Images

So, that was our guide on how you can use disappearing messages on popular messaging platforms. If you’re looking for more ways to use these platforms like a pro, you’ll find many useful features in our articles on Instagram tips, WhatsApp tips, Signal tips, and Telegram tips. You should also consider checking out our guide on deleting metadata from photos for better privacy.