http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/technology/personaltech/apps-to-compete-with-snapchat-in-temporary-messaging.html 2014-11-19 19:43:50 Apps to Compete With Snapchat in Temporary Messaging A review of some temporary messaging apps, for when you would prefer that your musings don’t live forever. === Not all messages need to live forever. And with the right smartphone app, it is simple to deliver text messages, photos or videos with a short life span. Snapchat is probably the best-known temporary messaging app. It is incredibly popular. The app, free for The app’s main idea is that you can safely share a “moment,” be it a photo or a short video that you record using the app itself, and the “moment” you share isn’t kept either on the recipient’s phone or the company’s servers — it is deleted by default. You can share self-destructing messages with a single person for one-time view, you can chat using text, photo or video with another user, or you can put your “snaps” on public display for everyone to see. Snapchat’s interface is minimalist. On the app’s main page, where you make recordings, you simply tap on the screen to take a photo or hold your finger to record a video clip. The few icons on the page let you control settings and add friends, among other things. Swiping left or right on the main page takes you to a list of recent snaps from friends or your contact list. The interface sounds straightforward, but be careful: It’s bizarrely easy to get lost among the options. Does Snapchat work? Yes. My friend frequently uses it to send me silly messages from her world travels. There’s no particular reason for her to send “self-destructing” messages, but she enjoys the fun of the idea. You can, of course, imagine what kind of content a lot of people tend to use Snapchat for: the kinds of images that aren’t really for public viewing. There was a recent controversy where private user images thought to be from Snapchat If Snapchat’s ephemeral messaging system is too slick for you, the Wickr app, also free on While simple, Wickr has a few neat features, like expiration dates for your messages so they can’t be viewed after a certain time, or the ability to chat with a group of users. My favorite feature is being able to sketch or add graffiti and clip art-style stickers to images you share through the app. The app’s interface is easy to use and looks great. Because of its more traditional design, you may feel more confident when using Wickr than with Snapchat — at least that you’re not going to accidentally broadcast a personal message to the world instead of one person. Because Wickr is not nearly as popular as Snapchat, your friends may not be on it. But there’s nothing stopping you from inviting them to join. Two similar apps, Burn Note ( Both Burn Note and Confide seem to take security seriously. Once a Burn Note message is opened, a countdown begins. When time expires, the message is deleted from the recipient’s app and from the company’s servers — so it should, in theory, remain unreadable. The maker of Burn Note promotes the app by saying this level of security makes it more intimate than reading a traditional text or email. The makers of Confide say each message is encrypted, so that only the sender and recipient can see what’s been shared. With Confide, you can send messages to any phone number or email address, while on a service like Wickr or Snapchat you have to set up an account inside the app and your friends have to use the same service. I like both apps, and it is actually fun to read messages in this spy-like way. Though both apps are similar, I find Burn Note’s interface feels formal compared to the lighter, brighter design of Confide. Both are free. Have fun with these ephemeral messaging apps, but remember this one important fact: Never assume anything you do on the Internet is 100 percent private, or 100 percent deleted. Quick Call Flic,