Snapchat videos vanish after a few seconds, at least that's how it's supposed to work.
(Credit:
Snapchat)
Snapchat and Poke videos shared with other people are supposed to go poof after a few seconds, but their vanishing act isn't exactly working.
Snapchat and Facebook's Poke apps are designed for folks who want to share photos and videos with their socially-networked friends. The appeal of both apps is that the photos and videos vanish after up to 10 seconds. That means you can send someone a potentially embarrasing or "sexty" clip of yourself, firm in the belief that it won't live long.
But tests of both apps conducted by blog site BuzzFeed FWD found that the videos hang around in a hidden spot despite supposedly vanishing from view.
As detailed by BuzzFeed, a user simply has to plug the iPhone into a computer, navigate to the phone's internal storage, and find the folders for Snapchat and Poke where the videos are stored locally. You can then copy the videos from your phone to your computer to sneak a peek at them. In BuzzFeed's testing, this bug applied only to videos; photos didn't appear to show up.
A Snapchat app is also available for Android users. That app was found to save versions of unwatched videos in the media gallery on
Android phones. But a fix for that bug was released earlier this month.
CNET contacted both Facebook and Snapchat for comment and will update the story if we receive any information.
Facebook told BuzzFeed that it's addressing the issue and should have a fix out soon. The social network also sent BuzzFeed the following statement:
Poke is a fun and easy way to communicate with your friends and is not designed to be a secure messaging system. While Pokes disappear after they are read, there are still ways that people can potentially save them. For example, you could take a screenshot of a photo, in which case the sender is notified. People could also take a photo of a photo you sent them, or a video of a video, with another camera. Because of this, people should think about what they are sending and share responsibly.
Snapchat also told BuzzFeed that it's aware of the problem and plans to fix it but added that "the people who most enjoy using Snapchat are those who embrace the spirit and intent of the service. There will always be ways to reverse engineer technology products -- but that spoils the fun!"
Of course, until such time as these bugs are fixed, users of either app may want to hold off on "sexting" any videos of themselves in a compromising position just in case they wind up in the wrong hands.
Snapchat, Poke videos don't quite disappear as promised
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Snapchat, Poke videos don't quite disappear as promised
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Snapchat, Poke videos don't quite disappear as promised
