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How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct

Dec 12, 2013 11:35 PM
Dec 13, 2013 12:04 AM
Computer mouse on a wooden surface with a delete button in the background.

It seems that Facebook doesn't take rejection lightly. After being denied for a $3 billion buyout of Snapchat, Facebook-owned Instagram has updated their popular photo-sharing service with Instagram Direct—a new feature that allows users to send private photos/videos.

While the Instagram Direct feature is a bit underwhelming, it has a feature that might not be so obvious—temporary messaging—a feature that Snapchat thrives on. If a user deletes any pictures or videos that they've sent, they will also be deleted from the recipient's inbox.

If, for example, I send a picture to my friend and I notice that he has just viewed it, I can delete it from my Instagram and thus he will no longer be able to view it—it'll simply vanish.

How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct
How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct
How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct
How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct

Once I delete the picture, it disappears from the recipient's Instagram Direct feed—even if they haven't seen it yet—as you can see in the screenshots below of the account I sent the photo above to.

How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct
How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct
How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct
How to Take Back the Photos & Videos You Send via Instagram Direct

To delete images, just use the menu on the image page, or swipe it from the Direct feed and hit the delete button. It's that easy.

I tested out the feature with both an Android and Apple device and it works extremely fast, since the image resides on Instagram's servers. In a side-by-side comparison, the deletion process is almost instantaneous.

The next big software update for iPhone is coming sometime in April and will include a Food section in Apple News+, an easy-to-miss new Ambient Music app, Priority Notifications thanks to Apple Intelligence, and updates to apps like Mail, Photos, Podcasts, and Safari. See what else is coming to your iPhone with the iOS 18.4 update.

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