When we need a higher level of privacy and security for our chats, self-destructing messages can be the answer we’re looking for: here’s how to use them.
Chatting apps have now entered our daily lives and are used by billions of people to exchange messages with friends, family or even co-workers. All of the major messaging platforms, namely WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, protect these conversations with end-to-end encryption, but sometimes you need an even higher level of security.
In cases like this, Telegram’s self-destructing messages can be very useful, i.e. messages that after a certain amount of time disappear and can no longer be read by either the person who sent them or the person who received them. Questi messaggi, quindi, dopo il tempo stabilito da chi li invia spariscono nel nulla senza che nessuno dei due utenti della conversazione debba fare nulla. Telegram offre due opzioni di questo tipo: i messaggi testuali che si autodistruggono, che richiedono di avviare una chat segreta, e le foto e i video che si autodistruggono, che invece possono essere usati anche nelle chat normali. Ecco come usare entrambe le funzioni su Telegram.
Telegram: come avviare una chat segreta
E’ possibile usare i messaggi che si autodistruggono su Telegram solo all’interno di una chat segreta. Per avviarne una su Android dobbiamo fare tap sull’icona a forma di penna e scegliere “Nuova chat segreta“, per poi selezionare il contatto con cui aprire la chat.
Per lanciare una chat segreta su iPhone bisogna invece fare tap sul nome del profilo con cui vogliamo chattare e poi selezionare Altro > Avvia chat segreta. In both cases, the conversations will be encrypted, it will not be possible to take screenshots (the app will prevent us from doing so) and there will be no trace of the conversation on Telegram’s servers. And, most importantly, you will be able to choose to have your text messages automatically destroyed.
Telegram: messages that self-destruct
Once we start the secret chat, we can send messages that self-destruct on Telegram. The procedure is the same on both iPhone and Android: just tap on the timer icon and choose after how long the message will destroy itself.
You can choose a time between 1 second and 1 week, but in any case the timer will only go off when the recipient of the message has read it.
Telegram: self-destructing photos and videos
On Telegram you can also send photos and videos that destroy themselves automatically and you don’t need to open a secret chat to do so. Again, there will be a timer, which triggers as soon as photos or videos are displayed.
To do all this on Android you need to tap on the attachments icon, the one shaped like a paperclip, and choose from the gallery the photo or video you want to share. After selecting the content, a timer icon will be shown, just like we’ve already seen for text messages.
On iPhone, on the other hand, you need to tap on the attachments icon of the entire conversation, choose the content and hold until the timer appears.