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Self-destructing your texts protects your reputation

While this allows us to go back and reminisce about conversations from years past, it also means that controversial, embarrassing, or downright incriminating messages come back to haunt us. Protecting your reputation in the modern world means being careful about written communications that are screenshots and shared without your consent.

Privnote is a web application and browser add-on that allows users to set an expiration date for shared text and links. When you compose a privnote, you choose for it to expire after it’s opened once or multiple times. You also password-protect privnotes for an extra layer of security. When you share a privnote URL with someone, they open and view it until the expiration occurs. After that time, the privnote is deleted from Privnote’s servers and no longer be accessed. Other similar apps like Confide also allow users to send encrypted, disappearing messages. Telegram has a “self-destructing messages” feature that users enable for secret chats. With these apps, senders get notified if the recipient takes a screenshot of their message in an attempt to save it.

Using self-destructing texts

We’ve all had regrettable text conversations that we thought were private or at least ephemeral. But even “temporary” texts easily be saved and redistributed without your consent. Self-destructing messaging helps by ensuring compromising communications don’t live indefinitely in other people’s inboxes and cloud storage. Politicians and public figures are prime targets for reputation damage through text leaks. Every day people also have to worry about mean texts, sensitive personal details, trade secrets, proprietary information, and confidential work documents getting captured and shared in a screenshot. Transient messaging protects you from career damage and embarrassment that could come from your private conversations being exposed.

how to protect text messages? Self-destructing texts also encourage more authentic conversations. If you know your texts can’t be used against you later on, you may feel more comfortable opening up via text about your honest thoughts, feelings, and opinions. There’s less incentive to self-censor. By facilitating candid conversations, disappearing texts help you forge deeper connections with your trusted contacts. You are more vulnerable and real when your messages truly stay between you and the intended recipient without leaving an evidence trail.

How does ephemeral messaging help you professionally?

Disappearing text apps create opportunities to discuss sensitive topics with colleagues over text without the risk of leaving a permanent record. You and your coworkers hash out confidential business matters without worrying about your conversation getting accidentally forwarded to the wrong person later on. Customer data, upcoming product launches, HR issues – these are all things you probably don’t want archived forever in plain text.

With private messaging, you text about proprietary secrets without concerns about losing your phone or having your cloud backups hacked. Encrypted transient messaging gives you and your coworkers peace of mind that your trade secrets won’t get leaked. It provides an important layer of security on top of ordinary texts. Private texting options also enable anonymous whistleblowing and confidential tips when needed in the workplace. Apps like Privnote allow organization members to discreetly report issues without their identity being revealed in the message metadata. The disappearing texts reduce the paper trail that could implicate the whistleblower.

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