Snapchat is full of amazing features that users find interesting and fun to use. Besides being unique, these features reflect the platform’s distinguished focus on user privacy. One such interesting characteristic is the way snapping and chatting work. Messages and snaps sent and received on Snapchat vanish after the recipient views them. They get deleted either immediately or after 24 hours of being viewed, depending on the settings set by the users.
However, this unique feature can confuse you if you notice that some messages have not disappeared even after getting viewed. The only way to prevent the automatic disappearance of messages is by saving them. So, if a message remains undeleted even if you haven’t saved it, it is natural to get confused.
But we are here to lift the curtain of confusion from your mind. Read on to know why some Snapchat messages might not disappear even without being saved.
Why Do Some Snapchat Messages Not Disappear Even They Aren’t Saved?
As you are likely aware, Snapchat deletes messages and snaps once all the recipients have viewed them. This setting is an interesting feature because the platform provides no option to disable the automatic deletion process.
Whenever you send a snap or message to anyone on Snapchat, they are, by default, destined to get deleted once the recipient views them. Or, as Snapchat puts it, delete is the default on Snapchat.
However, you might sometimes notice that some messages don’t disappear even when other messages have. There can be several reasons why this might happen:
Reason 1: The message hasn’t been viewed by all the recipients
For a message to disappear on Snapchat, the only condition is that all the recipients must have viewed it.
If you are chatting with a single person in a one-to-one chat, the message gets deleted once the other person has viewed it. On Group Chats, though, your message will disappear only when all the group participants have viewed it or if it has been a week since you sent it.
In either case, your message will disappear only if every recipient has viewed it.
Reason 2: The recipient saved the message
There is only one way to permanently stop a message from disappearing—by saving it. But if you haven’t saved a message, it is possible that the other person saved it, due to which the message hasn’t disappeared yet.
You cannot unsave a message if someone else in the chat has saved it. Any chat participant can save a message and prevent it from disappearing from the chat. For a saved message to disappear, it must be unsaved by all the chat participants.
A saved message has a gray background. You can find out who has saved a message by tapping and holding it. You will see the name of the user who saved the message under the Unsave in Chat option that appears as a pop-up.
Reason 3: You reacted to their message
Another reason why a message can take an unusually long time to disappear is that you reacted to it.
If someone sends you a message and you react to it through an emoji, the message will not disappear until the other person sees your reaction. You might wonder why the message is not disappearing, although you have viewed it. But once the recipient sees your reaction, the message will vanish as usual.
In group chats, the same situation will require all the recipients to view your reaction. Once everyone sees it, the message will disappear.
Reason 4: You replied to their message
Just like reacting, replying to a message also stops it from disappearing temporarily.
You can reply to any message by swiping right on the message and sending the reply. When you reply this way, a copy of the message also appears along with your reply, even after the original message has disappeared.
The copy of that message will remain undeleted along with your reply and disappear after every recipient has viewed it.
Reason 5: Your friend set messages to delete after 24 hours
When you are chatting with a friend on Snapchat, either of you can change the duration, after which messages disappear.
Messages on one-to-one chats are set to delete 24 hours after viewing. But you can easily change it to delete immediately after viewing, or vice versa. Sometimes, you might not notice that the other person has changed the duration, which might explain why your messages aren’t disappearing even after being viewed.
Also Read:
