Meta’s Messenger is making your direct messages disappear as part of the tech giant’s latest effort to unify its messaging platforms.
On Wednesday, Facebook’s parent company announced a slew of Messenger updates, including “Vanish Mode,” which allows your messages to vanish after they’ve been read.
Messenger is the last of Meta’s major messaging apps to add a disappearing messages feature: This feature is already available on Meta-owned Instagram and WhatsApp, with both adding it in late 2020. Vanish Mode for Messenger is the latest indication of the company’s ongoing efforts to unify and standardize its platforms’ features.
In 2019, it was reported that Meta was planning to integrate its messaging apps, unifying their infrastructure while still allowing the platforms to operate as standalone apps. In addition, the company intends to include end-to-end encryption throughout the system.
The infrastructure merger, which is said to have begun in mid-2020, could help Meta compete with Apple’s iMessage, as the company’s messaging apps serve billions of people combined.
