Confide, the app that lets you send self-destructing messages, is now transitioning to the desktop.
Confide launched 18 months ago as a mobile app on iOS and Android, offering users the chance to send messages to each other that are only readable a few words at a time. When the user tapped on certain words in the message, they would appear and disappear again as the user’s finger moved across the entire message.
Once the user chose to reply or exit out, the message disappeared forever.
Now, that same functionality is coming over to the Desktop for both Mac and Windows as a native application.
Founder and CEO Jon Brod told TechCrunch that desktop functionality was always part of the plan.
“We want to offer private, self-destructing messages across all platforms and all devices,” said Brod. “These days, everyone needs privacy, and we want to be the ubiquitous platform for that level of secure and private communication.”
With the desktop version of the app, one of the biggest challenges was developing software that would eliminate the ability to take screenshots of messages. For Mac, users who try to screenshot a Confide message will simply see a blank, gray screen, and the same is true for Windows, except that the file will show a black screen instead.
Confide already has a mobile app, and recently introduced an Apple Watch app, as well. That said, notifications won’t be hitting all of your devices all the time. Instead, Confide will recognize when you’re actively using the desktop app and/or mobile app and send notifications to the appropriate destination. If you haven’t read a message on desktop for a while, Confide will send a delayed notification to your phone to make sure you receive the message.
Just as is the case with Confide for mobile, the desktop app also allows users to send files and photos which are viewable only one portion at a time.
The main difference between mobile and desktop is that received desktop messages don’t self-destruct until after the reply message is sent. On mobile, received messages self-destruct as soon as you hit the reply button.
Confide is currently available in 15 different languages and 180 countries.
If you want to learn more about Confide for desktop, hit up the website here.
