This article was published on August 11, 2021

How to set a disappearing message timer for all your chats in Signal

Privacy first


How to set a disappearing message timer for all your chats in Signal

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Ephemeral messages are now a core part of popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal. The latter has had the functionality for a while, and lets you set different timers for messages too.

Last night, Signal announced that it’s going to allow you to set a disappearing message timer for all your new conversations by default. So you don’t have to set timers for individual messages.

Here’s how you can enable this feature:

  • Open Signal app on your iPhone or Android device.
  • Head to Settings by tapping on your profile icon.
  • Tap on the Privacy section.
  • Head to the Disappearing Messages section, and tap on the “Default Timer for New Chats” section to turn on the feature.
  • You can select one of the pre-specified times, or set your own custom timer.

Once you’ve set the timer, all your new conversations will disappear after a specified time. No need to worry about backups or individually deleting chats. That’s the next level of private messaging.

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