He grabbed a forensic image of a phone running Snapchat, found a directory called received_image_snaps and looked in it.īoth unviewed and expired images were still there. US-based computer forensics geek Richard Hickman thought he’d find out.īe prepared to laugh (or cry – it’s not really funny): according to Hickman, “expired” Snapchat photos don’t disappear at all! So “disappears forever” is something of a bogus concept to start with.īut just how meaningful is Snapchat’s promise if you completely ignore the screenshot problem, or the taking-a-picture-of-the-screen-with-another-camera problem? That’s because the screenshot function creates a new image, not managed by the Snapchat application, and saves it where your friend is in complete control of it, rather than you or Snapchat. We'll let you know if they take a screenshot!Īs fellow Naked Security writer Graham Cluley asked late last year, early on in Snapchat’s short history, “How do you reconcile ‘dispappears forever’ with ‘if they take a screenshot’?”Īfter all, if the screenshot warning ever does come up (assuming the screenshot detector does its job), the one thing you can be sure of is that the image has not disappeared forever, or even at all. They'll have that long to view your message and then it disappears forever. You control how long your friends can view your message - simply set the timer up to ten seconds and send.

Snapchat is the fastest way to share a moment with friends. In fact, the app description on Google’s Play Store goes one step further, promising disappearance for all eternity: You can live a bit recklessly, Snapchat seems to be saying, because the snap disappears after your friends have looked at it. Give it a try, share a moment, and enjoy the lightness of being!Ĭlearly, Snapchat’s primary feature, if not its raison d’etre, is “managed risk”. The allure of fleeting messages reminds us about the beauty of friendship - we don't need a reason to stay in touch. It's about the moment, a connection between friends, and not just a pretty picture. The image might be a little grainy, and you may not look your best, but that's the point. They'll receive it, laugh, and then the snap disappears. Snap an ugly selfie or a video, add a caption, and send it to a friend (or maybe a few). Snapchat is a new way to share moments with friends. The app enables you – indeed, it pretty much encourages you – to share snapshots you would probably be wiser to keep to yourself, or better yet not to take in the first place (my emphasis below): Snapchat replaces more pedestrian ways of sharing photos, such as sending them by email. Snapchat is a wildly popular app for Androids and iDevices that allows you to share photos with your friends.

Snapchat tmp folder backup