Signal, an encrypted chat app, has added a few options to help users secure their messages. Anyone can now set a default timer to automatically apply the settings to newly initiated conversations.After a certain time, the Signals Disappearing Messages option will delete all chats between sender and receiver. You had to turn the option on and choose a time interval for each conversation. This made it easy to forget about the privacy feature when you had many chats open at once.Everyone who has been waiting for this feature for quite some time deserves a shout out. Signal now allows you to set a default timer for disappearing messages. It will preconfigure all new groups and conversations that you start. https://t.co/QGWv6DTx6V Moxie Marlinspike (@moxie) August 10, 2021Signal has added more options to control how long messages disappear before they vanish. Users can now choose between a time interval of up to 4 weeks or as low as 30 seconds. The custom time options allow you to set a lower limit than a second.It is important to keep in mind that chat apps can disappear messages, but this doesn't mean that they are gone forever. You can share anything online indefinitely by taking screenshots, or having someone take a picture of the app screen with another device.Signal asks its users to remember this. Signal notes that disappearing messages are the best way to save space and keep conversation history to a minimum. Signal explained in a blog post that this is not recommended for contact situations with your adversary.It is still one of the most widely used end-to-end encrypted messaging apps. In fact, earlier this year it even managed to absorb some WhatsApp users that became hesitant about Facebook's data sharing policies.Although Signal is a privacy-minded messaging app, it is highly regarded for its robust feature set and company independence. However, Signal is still relatively small in comparison to Facebook's end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp which was acquired by the company in 2014. Signal had around 20 million active users per month as of December 2020. WhatsApp reached 2 billion users in the first quarter of last year.
