Mobile messaging app, Line, added a new feature called "hidden message" that replicates Snapchat's ephemeral concept of sharing private messages.
The instant messaging platform is growing day by day and the competition intensifies. Newcomers in the messaging field want to take over the bigger players with new features that may attract more mobile users. In a similar bid, Asia's popular instant messaging application, Line, is taking on its bigger rival Snapchat with a modified ephemeral messaging feature. The company announced the new "hidden message" feature Tuesday to promote the growing concept of private messages.
The new feature in Line is entirely different from Snapchat's style of disappearing messages. The messenger allows users to send messages and images that are displayed to the recipient for a set length of time after they are opened. The company promises to delete all the messages from its servers once they disappear from the recipient's mobile. This is important as more users are concerned about the privacy of their content on mobile social networking services. If the recipient fails to open the message for more than two weeks, they are erased automatically from Line's servers.
The screenshot above is an example of how the messages will appear in a chat window. Users can send messages, stickers, location info, contact info, and images but the feature is not compatible to support video files, voice messages, snap movies, albums and notes, Line said in an official blog post.
"Text and image messages are sent in a secure state, and after the receiver taps on the message, the contents will only be displayed for a pre-set amount of time," Line said describing the new feature. "After that time limit is exceeded, the message will be deleted automatically."
The feature is a part of Line's latest version 4.5.0. After downloading the update, the Line chat window will show a new "hidden chat" option on the top left corner. Senders can change the timer, which is set to 1 minute by default. Recipients will only need to tap the hidden message to show the content for a limited time.
The new feature is available only on Android and iOS mobile apps. Line did not mention if the hidden feature will arrive on Windows Phone or the PC version of its app.
