Instagram Direct has received new replay privacy controls giving complete control to users when they send a photo or video from the Instagram Direct camera. The sender can now choose to allow recipients to view the message once, replay it temporarily, or see a permanent thumbnail in the chat log.
Instagram until now allowed all messages to be replayed temporarily before they disappear permanently. On the flip side, Snapchat doesn’t offer users any control over the nature of private chats. Once a user sends a photo or video, the recipient can replay the message for a brief period, but then it disappears forever. These controls are aimed at making users send more sensitive imagery by allowing them to prevent replays.
On the other hand, non-sensitive images can be set to permanent so it’s easy to look back so that they don’t prevent the conversation from losing context. With Snapchat’s Snaps sent by each user increases each day, this new controls definitely give Instagram a leg-up. Instagram spokesperson talking to TechCrunch said that the company is adding more features to give people more control of what they share with friends in Direct.