4 of the Latest Hacks on Popular Messaging Apps
Oct. 18 2024, Published 3:00 a.m. ET
In the midst of all our dependence on our phones, modern messaging apps play a vital role in our daily lives. Far from the old days of texting, nowadays, with apps like Whatsapp, Telegram, Snapchat, and others, modern messaging apps come with all sorts of great functions and features that make our lives simpler. To help get the full benefit out of your messaging apps, here are four of the latest hacks that are bound to enhance your messaging experience.
1. Snapchat's Half-Swipe Feature: Read Messages Without Opening Them
With all social media apps needing to be distinct in some way to stand out and appeal to their own segment of the market, Snapchat has always been a great example of one that’s embraced being unique from the beginning. Its uniqueness partly comes from its communication style as it uses messages that disappear after they’re viewed. With most messaging apps these days, knowing when your message is read has become a valuable tool for knowing if and when you’re likely to get a response from the other person. However, some people prefer their privacy which is why this setting is usually able to be turned off.
However, for those interested in a cool feature that lets you have the best of both worlds, this guide on how to half swipe on Snapchat sums up this feature and what makes it so great. According to senior tech and content writer Mark O’Neill, you can preview the message by slowly swiping halfway on a chat from the left to the right, without triggering the "opened" notification.
This provides users with a discreet way to check messages without making it known that they have. With everything being so fast-paced in today’s ever-digitized world, it’s become common practice to vet messages and reply to them based on priority. This is especially true for high-functioning individuals and successful people.
With these kinds of people likely to receive dozens of emails, calls, and messages in a day, it’s not practical to give each one priority. With Snapchat’s half-swipe feature, people can catch a snippet of the message and then decide if they want to reply to it immediately or not.
2. WhatsApp's Disappearing Messages: Stay Private With Self-Destructing Chats
The more digitized we get, the more privacy becomes integral—as John Cusack once found out the hard way. This is very true for messaging apps like WhatsApp, as our most personal and intimate feelings and thoughts are often in our messages. While we may be fine with sharing them with the person we’re chatting with, leaving them on our chat history can leave them vulnerable to being read by someone else if you aren’t careful.
WhatsApp has stepped up to fix this problem by introducing disappearing messages. This feature allows you to set your messages to automatically delete after a set period, such as 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days. This gives users more control over their own data and ensures that none of your chats will linger on your device in perpetuity.
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To enable disappearing messages, simply open the chat you want to apply it to, tap the contact's name at the top, and select "Disappearing Messages." Once you choose the duration, you’re good to go. Not only does this help keep your intimate messages safe from prying eyes, it all also helps keep your WhatsApp neat and uncluttered with every chat you have. Lastly, it’s also a memory saver as each time the messages are deleted, they free up space on the app and on your phone.
Some other cool features on WhatsApp now include:
Media that can be viewed once and then disappear. This is a great way to keep media from being shared after it's viewed although WhatsApp still needs to work out some bugs to make sure it’s truly secure.
Users can now also join group calls after they have started.
You can also search for stickers for every occasion using keywords.
As a useful feature for NSFW content, users can now also mute the audio on videos before sharing them.
3. Telegram's Secret Chat: Encrypt Your Private Conversations
Telegram has been one of the most intriguing messaging services for some time now. For those who value privacy, Telegram prioritizes security and encryption, something its CEO Pavel Durov often finds himself in hot water for. It also provides a powerful tool to enforce these ideals through its Secret Chat feature. With Secret Chats, it uses end-to-end encryption, meaning only the parties to the chat can read the messages. This means that even Telegram cannot access the content.
Additionally, this feature has a timer and a self-destruct option to automatically delete itself after a specific period. Starting a Secret Chat is simple. Open Telegram, go to the chat menu, and select "New Secret Chat."
Once you’ve started one, you can invite a contact to join the chat and set a timer to self-destruct the messages. This feature is great for sensitive conversations and is perfect for public figures to avoid leaked chats since it provides heightened security with both secure and temporary chats.
4. Facebook Messenger's Vanish Mode and App Lock
Similar to WhatsApp’s disappearing messages, Facebook Messenger has introduced Vanish Mode, which lets users send messages that disappear once they’ve been seen or when the chat is closed. This serves the same function as disappearing messages as it enhances privacy.
Features like this can be especially useful for users with public personas, like celebrities. These days, the risks that come with social media have left many celebrities avoiding it altogether, despite all the potential for building more PR for their projects.
However, Messenger has also introduced a pin to lock your messages each time the app is downloaded on a new device. This is a great way to ensure no unauthorized person finds a way to breach your messages by duplicating the app on a device that you're not using.
Other cool features Messenger now has are:
Custom reactions and the ability to personalize emojis
The “watch together” feature allows users to watch videos together with their friends in real time.
There are now also AR effects for video calls to provide more entertaining video chats.
Messenger now allows customizable chat themes to personalize conversation backgrounds.