The ephemeral messaging feature was first spotted by reverse engineering specialist Jane Manchun Wong inside Instagrams’s Android app code labelled “speak no evil” emoji. Wong took to Twitter to reveal how the feature works. According to him the self-destructing messages or disappearing messages work for the users who have enabled dark mode via Instagram Direct message. The message sent automatically gets vanished when the chat window is closed.
It seems to be in an early barebone version but I tried my best to demonstrate how it might work pic.twitter.com/ZrUZZj0TWo — Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) March 19, 2020 In addition to this Instagram confirmed that it is working on this feature. A spokesperson in its statement said, “We’re always exploring new features to improve your messaging experience. This feature is still in early development and not testing externally just yet.” Other social media apps such as Twitter as well as WhatsApp are testing the disappearing messages feature. Twitter recently confirmed that its feature will be called “Fleets” In which text messages, photos as well as videos will automatically disappear in 24 hours. Furthermore, WhatsApp was also spotted testing this feature in two Android beta versions – 2.20.83 as well as 2.20.84. The users will be allowed to set a specific time for self-destructing messaging in their private chats. The messages will be short-lived for a period of one hour, one day, one week, one month or one year which can be set as per preference. When the user enables the feature, a clock icon will appear in the bubble. This was spotted by WABetainfo and it mentioned that the feature is currently disabled by default which is not accessible right now. This indicates that soon the Facebook-owned chatting app might roll out the stable version. For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also stay up to date using the Gadget Bridge Android App.