Facebook has secretly introduced the Secret Conversations on its Messenger platform, and this comes as a move after the introduction of Allo app by Google, which also has the Incognito mode for private messaging where nothing is stored and you can choose to have a time set for the message to get auto-deleted.
Facebook Secret Conversations work on Messenger app and they don’t work by default as you will have to turn it on from the Settings. Let’s explain how to do that and how to send these self-destructing messages to a contact on Facebook messenger using Facebook Secret Conversations.
How to turn on Secret Conversations?
In the Messenger app, go to Settings and then tap on “Secret Conversations”. Here, tap on the first option to turn it on. But you are not done here because you won’t see all the conversations to be having this enabled. You will have to start a new secret conversation with a contact.
I cannot use this feature on my computer, i.e. Facebook Web’s messages?
No, this feature is available only for Facebook Messenger, on which the social network is betting big and wants to see users adopt this platform for a better chat experience. Only in Messenger, you’ll be able to see these settings where the Secret conversations are a part of it.
I turned on “Secret Conversations”. How do I start a secret self-destructive chat with a contact?
Now that you have enabled the feature, you’ll need to have the other contact with the feature enabled. It has to be a turned-on feature for both to start chatting secretly.
Only if your friend or contact has turned on Secret conversions, you’ll see an option to start it. Tap on the “i” icon of the top right on the chat window and you’ll then find the option for the Secret Conversation. Tap on that and a new chat head will show up.
Does this mean I won’t be able to have the self-deleting messages on my regular chat box?
No, you’ll always have to use the separate secret chat box if you want to do a secret chat. The regular Messenger chat threads are as usual the ones where you can send a message and delete it on your side but that won’t delete it on the other side.
How do I choose a time for the messages to get deleted automatically?
If you have enabled Secret Conversations and you gave started a secret chat with someone, you’ll see a Clock timer icon just below the chat section, and there you can choose the time from 5 seconds to 1 day, from the given options.
I’ve enabled the secret conversation on my device. But when I open Messenger on my other smartphone, the secret thread doesn’t show up. Why is it so?
The encryption here is at the device level and not account-level. So you won’t be able to start a secret chat with anyone and see it available on your other devices. If you want to chat from that new device, you will have to enable Secret Conversations on that device in the Messenger settings.
I see my sent message as blurred in the secret chat box. Does that not get completely deleted?
It is just for you to get a rough idea of what you had sent at that particular time, the blurred message resides in your secret chat box. But on the other end, the receiver will not be able to see anything after the expiry time ends. Not even the blurred message.
I sent a Secret self-deleting message with a 5-minute timer. If the recipient doesn’t check it till the next day, will it get deleted already?
No, the timer starts only when the message is viewed. It is the same way for both the sides, you and the recipient of the message. Till the message is not read, the timer won’t start.
Is every feature available in a Secret conversation?
No, the secret chat is limited to sending messages, pictures and stickers. You won’t be able to send the other file types, and you cannot make even voice and video calls in this secret chat.
Will group chats get the Secret conversation feature?
No, for now, Facebook the secret chats available only for individual chats. It might become open for groups later but for now, only individual chats can be done with this end-to-end encryption.
I’ve done so many secret chats already and finding it always confusing on which chat box to open. Is there a way I can delete all secret conversations?
The Messenger app has a direct option of deleting all the secret conversations that you had started with someone. Go to the same Settings where you would find the option to enable Secret Conversations and you can tap “Delete Secret Conversations” and tap on “Delete All”.
Nice article. Facebook secret conversation is an excellent feature. Like Whatsapp, it is a new feature of Facebook. I hope this will be enjoyable for the users. I didn’t know it before to enable facebook secret conversation. Your article helped me very much. Thanks for sharing such an interesting article.
Will the other party get notified if i start secret conversation?
It says not turned on by default, however unless my partner is lying to me, he says he didnt/doesnt know anything about it. Any way it could have been turned on?
Im having the same issue ive never used it but it keeps turning on
Do you guys have iphones? We have one iPhone and one android and the iPhone is either turning on by itself or someone is lying
there is a weird behaviour on secret convo. I cannot see the message sent by the person. And if i try to type a messgae, it will just go straight up and then dis appear. Is this normal?
I don’t have that feature on my iPhone X Plus, or I just can’t seem to find it. Please help!
Thanks
It won’t let me shut off end to end encryption on one conversation and the secret conversation option isn’t on the chat settings for that person and I just want to shut it off and nothing is working.