Telegram has introduced a new feature in its latest update. Now you can permanently delete messages for all participants in your chat no matter how long ago either party sent it.
The messaging app has grown to be WhatsApp’s biggest competition after gaining 3 million more followers after Facebook’s outage earlier in the month. It looks like they are serious about privacy and security and are looking to hammer on their competitor’s weaknesses.
Previously, Telegram gave users 48 hours to delete messages sent from both ends. Now it has gone all the way with making it possible to erase an entire communication at any time.
The new ‘nuclear option’ delete feature lets a user selectively delete their own messages and/or messages sent by any or all others in the chat. You can also delete messages by the other person on the chat, even if you didn’t start the chat. You can also do this in a group chat or thread as long as you are a participant.
Privacy revamped
On WhatsApp, you can delete your own message after 10 minutes, but this new Telegram one beats that hands down. Once deleted, however, no party can recall the messages.
The new feature also does not leave a trace that a message had been sent at all as it does on WhatsApp. It just goes away and never returns.
This is particularly interesting, especially for cheating, trash-talking or sharing sensitive information, since there is no trace. But, before you get too excited, remember there is the screen-grabbing option. What would, however, make this a killer move would be the munch notification as they have on SnapChat.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov said this was done to help people control their digital history. In a statement, he wrote:
“An old message you already forgot about can be taken out of context and used against you decades later. A hasty text you sent to a girlfriend in school can come to haunt you in 2030 when you decide to run for mayor. We have to admit: despite all of our progress in encryption and privacy, we have very little actual control of our data. We can’t go back in time and erase things for other people.”
“Well, we couldn’t. Until today. Starting today, we are allowing every Telegram user to delete any message in a private conversation from both sides. It doesn’t matter who sent the message and when – you have complete control over it. You can even wipe out the whole conversation from both sides if you want to. No trace will be left on either side.”
On the new update, Telegram has upgraded its emoji and GIF search. It has also added new sticker sets that feature famous people like Vladimir Putin, Valve’s Gabe Newell, Snoop Dogg, Ryan Gosling and Borat.
This will definitely mean more traction for Telegram.