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MENLO PARK, CA - MAY 18: A 'like' sign stands at the entrance of Facebook headquarters May 18, 2012 in Menlo Park, California. The eight-year-old social network company listed their initial public offering on NASDAQ Friday morning at $38 a share and a valuation of $104 billion, making its IPO the third largest in U.S. history after General Motors and Visa.

Facebook's version of a signature Snapchat feature arrived, and it is named Vanish Mode. It was first declared as part of its big September redesign of Messenger.

Vanish Mode is a new feature that would allow Messenger and Instagram users to chat with others and automatically delete text and images after the receiver views them and leaves Facebook.

Disappearing Messages on Messenger, Instagram

It is virtually impossible not to remember that Snapchat, a social media platform that Mark Zuckerberg's company made an effort to acquire a few years ago but failed to, already had a similar capability many years ago. It is one of the major reasons why Snapchat has been triumphant.

To activate Messenger's disappear Mode, slide your finger up on the screen so that the interface becomes dark, meaning the Mode has been activated.

According to Facebook, the idea is to "be in the moment and share with close friends and family without worrying about your chats sticking around," reported Fact News.

The social media platform stated in a press release that the feature is most suitable for GIFs, memes, stickers, or reactions that may be cool at the time of your sending, but you may not want them to stay in your message history.

If you swipe up again, you will return to regular chat. To fill in on users with the disappearing feature, Facebook added an explainer screen that pops up when a user first swipes up, reported Business Standard.

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Whatsapp has also recently launched a similar feature called "Disappearing Messages." But it is not identical to that of Snapchat because Whatsapp messages would be available for seven days before they are removed.

The Vanish Mode feature for Facebook is opt-in. This means it requires approval from both parties in the chat for it to become active. A few privacy features are built-in, including if a user takes a screenshot of one's messages while in vanish mode, the other user would be notified.

The company released a statement, "We're slowly rolling out vanish mode on Messenger and Instagram. Vanish Mode is now available on Messenger in the US and a handful of other countries, and it's coming soon to more places. Vanish Mode on Instagram will be coming to the US and other countries soon," reported Deccan Herald.

The tech giant remarked some things are not meant to last, and at times, it is more essential for people to live in the moment without being concerned about the things they said in the past. A user could easily have an intimate conversation with trusted people over Messenger and Instagram without worries through the feature. Once they leave the chat, the messages will promptly disappear if the Vanish Mode is enabled.

Vanish Mode can be used only for a 2-persons chat only. The disappearing feature for group chats is not yet available.

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