Facebook is testing self-destructing messages for Messenger
Sometimes you need to send a message that only needs to be seen for a specific amount of time. SnapChat currently has this ability built into the messaging side of the photo/video sharing services. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find another messaging service that offers this ability. Facebook Messenger could be the next major service getting it.
In the screenshots provided by @iOSAppChanges on Twitter, there is an in-line notification that shows the user that the message will disappear within one minute, with a button to “Change” the preference. Another screenshot shows the various options that users would have to choose from if they wanted to send a disappearing message. Users would be able to set the message to self-destruct after the following amount of time:
- Never
- After 1 minute
- After 15 minutes
- After 1 hour
- After 4 hours
- After 1 day
One more thing to note is that the iOS version of Facebook Messenger already has this built-in but it seems that Facebook has yet to flip the switch. We’ll see what happens with this feature in the next couple of updates, but this may just be some internal tool that the team at Facebook takes advantage of.