{"id":14022,"date":"2017-09-05T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/?p=14022"},"modified":"2018-07-28T12:36:21","modified_gmt":"2018-07-28T16:36:21","slug":"snapchats-really-delete-opened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/snapchats-really-delete-opened\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Your Snapchats Really Delete After Being Opened?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snapchat, the popular smartphone video, and photo sharing app is marketed on the idea that all messages sent through the app are deleted immediately after being viewed by the recipient. Each photo has a lifespan of up to 10 seconds and then disappears from the app forever. However, the lasting quality of all data uploaded to the Internet has prompted many users to question the legitimacy of this ephemeral claim. Where do sent Snapchat photos, videos, and messages really go? Can they ever truly be deleted forever?<\/span><\/p>\n

Snapchats Are Saved to Your Phone
\n<\/b>According to Snapchat, all photos sent through the app are deleted from the recipient and sender\u2019s phones after they\u2019re opened. Yet mobile forensics students uncovered an element of the app\u2019s code that simply buries the photos, videos, and chats deep within the device rather than deleting them entirely. The photo-sharing app stores media under a folder titled \u201cRECEIVED_IMAGES_SNAPS\u201d and titles each file with a \u201c.NOMEDIA\u201d extension, making it more difficult \u2014 but not impossible \u2014 to locate the files in question. By changing the files\u2019 extension, a process which can take up to six hours, users can restore their old Snapchats.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More: <\/b>Can Hackers Breach WhatsApp\u2019s Special Encryption?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Snapchats Are Saved on Snapchat\u2019s Servers
\n<\/b>Under Snapchat\u2019s privacy policy, all video, photo, and message content is deleted from servers after it\u2019s been viewed by all recipients or after 30 days. While this means that Snapchat doesn\u2019t deliberately retain private message data for longer than necessary, it also means that videos and photos sent from your smartphone can be held on Snapchat servers for a month. In cases where a Snapchat is sent to a friend who\u2019s lost their phone, or simply doesn\u2019t open the message, the lifespan of your 10-second Snapchat has quickly expanded to 30 days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Users Can Take Screenshots
\n<\/b>As a general rule, it\u2019s a good idea to bear in mind the fact that every Snapchat is susceptible to a screenshot. By simply holding down the power and volume buttons simultaneously, Android users can capture the Snap image forever. While this tool can be used innocuously, to grab silly images or cute pictures, it can also be used to save photos against the sender’s wishes. Even regardless of Snapchat\u2019s practices of saving photos to personal devices or servers, Snap users should be conscious of photo and video content for the simple reason that a screenshot or quick photo can preserve a private image forever.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snapchat may claim that photos sent through the application are deleted forever, but what really happens to the pictures that you send?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[747,1673,421,2147,290,243,223],"class_list":["post-14022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-privacy","tag-android-apps","tag-android-tips","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-security","tag-social-networks","tag-technology","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14022"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19057,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14022\/revisions\/19057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psafe.com\/en\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}