Do my Snapchats really disappear?

We’ve talked about Snapchat on JustAskGemalto before. It’s a mobile messenger service which makes your photos and text messages disappear forever after a few seconds. You can also do other cool things like read the news in short clips, take photos with Augmented Reality filters and build your own “story” each day. Click here to find out more about what you can do with this feature.

However, how do you know if your photos have really disappeared? Here’s a few things to remember:

Screenshots – it is possible to take screenshots on Snapchat, so your photo won’t disappear if someone does this. You do get a notification if someone screenshots a photo you’ve sent them, though

Chat – someone can save a message by pressing down and saving it. If they don’t, your message will disappear after 24 hours

Memories – Snapchat also allows you to save certain Snaps and Stories in an archive. Content you save in here won’t disappear

Stories – If you upload a photo or video to your Snapchat story, it will be visible for 24 hours. If you submit a Snapchat to a “Live Story” or “Local Story”, the company might save it so it can be viewed again

It is worth remembering that when you share a photo or video with a friend, it doesn’t travel directly from phone to phone. The data passes through Snapchat’s servers – and in the Terms and Conditions of the app, it states Snapchat has the right to retain messages if it chooses.

The only real way to be sure that your photo or video isn’t shared with others, or stored online, is not share digitally at all. Also, you never know, the recipient may use another phone or camera to take a pic/video of your Snap.

Are you a Snapchat fan? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!