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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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confide.png
With the image-based Snapchat reaching huge levels of popularity with its ephemeral image and video messaging, new app Confide looks to offer the same type of secure, self-destructing messaging for text.

The app allows users to send messages to anyone with an email address -- prompting those users to download the app -- and conceals the contents of messages until they swipe to select it. It also alerts senders when screenshots are attempted and sends read receipt messages so senders know when their message is read.

The company is pitching Confide as an app for business executives and others to send messages to each other that they would prefer HR or legal departments not find out about.

Gigaom writes:
Brod added that Confide is different from Snapchat and other disappear apps in that it connects potential users through their email addresses, not by searching their phone contacts. This means that if someone sends a message to a person who doesn't have the app, they will receive an email that informs them there is a message from the first person waiting for them in the app.

To address the issue of screenshots, which can provide a way to preserve disappearing messages, Confide uses a "wand" feature that requires recipients to pass their fingers over the message to reveal additional words. The app also includes a notice feature, common among other disappear apps, that alerts the sender if the recipient took a screenshot of the message.
textmessaging.jpg
Confide for iPhone is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: 'Confide' is Like Snapchat for Text Messages
 

afro-ninja

macrumors member
Jan 27, 2013
44
4
The difference is Snapchat has the potential to be funny with photographic creativity...
Ooh, risqué words. How edgy.
 

m0dest

macrumors member
Apr 16, 2010
36
52
  1. Confide releases an app with ephemeral text messages
  2. Confide gains mild popularity
  3. Snapchat adds support for ephemeral text messages
  4. Confide goes away

I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE

Never start a company oriented around trying to fill a minor gap in a competing product. It doesn't work out.

idrinknavy_fullpic_artwork.jpg
 

kartikthapar

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2013
37
0
Baltimore
If you assume that the receipt is a non a trustworthy party, the communication can never be secure.

This is the fundamental idea. When we talk about secure communications between two or more parties we assume that the parties are trustworthy and look for other issues; whether issues in the channel, side channel, eavesdropping, etc. The only point of this app is to basically get some marketshare by marketing on GigaOm and MacRumors and making the money they do not deserve to. It's simple.
 

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,362
5,795
If you assume that the receipt is a non a trustworthy party, the communication can never be secure.

This is the fundamental idea. When we talk about secure communications between two or more parties we assume that the parties are trustworthy and look for other issues; whether issues in the channel, side channel, eavesdropping, etc. The only point of this app is to basically get some marketshare by marketing on GigaOm and MacRumors and making the money they do not deserve to. It's simple.

It's not really about trust. Some things you might not want logged.

Here's the use cases listed on the site:

Any time you want to have honest, unfiltered, off-the-record conversations. We think there are three primary cases:

Anytime you send an email or text saying "Confidential — don't forward"
Anytime you respond to an email or text with "I'll call you"
Anytime you say "Can you send me your personal email; I'd prefer this conversation not be on work servers"

More specifically, we think common use cases will include: Job referrals, HR issues, deal discussions, and even some good-natured office gossip.
 

Nunyabinez

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2010
1,758
2,230
Provo, UT
It's not really about trust. Some things you might not want logged.

Here's the use cases listed on the site:

Here's some use cases that we were probably all thinking about, but that wouldn't be prudent to market.

You don't want your wife/girlfriend/husband/boyfriend seeing the texts from your girlfriend/boyfriend

Or maybe you don't want the police coming to find you when your drug dealer gets pinched.

:eek:
 

kartikthapar

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2013
37
0
Baltimore
It's not really about trust. Some things you might not want logged.

Here's the use cases listed on the site:

Umm. My comment was not about logging or self-destruct or meta-tagged messages. It was about the 2nd party or the recipient being the entity that may create issues.

I don't want anything at all to be logged but my comment wasn't about logging. It was about trusting the 2nd party. If you cannot trust the receipt, then there is no question of a secure communication.
 

Sardonick007

macrumors regular
May 18, 2011
239
2
Wonderful, another app to increase the disconnect between parents and children. Could care less how adults use, they can fend for their own security and responsibility.
 

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
I don't want anything at all to be logged but my comment wasn't about logging. It was about trusting the 2nd party. If you cannot trust the receipt, then there is no question of a secure communication.

It's a way to automatically delete confidential messages rather than leaving it up to the users to do it in enterprise environments etc. You know, computers are meant to make our lives easier by assisting us in our work?

Option 1. All messages are logged. Users have to manually delete messages.
Option 2. No messages are logged. Messages are automatically deleted without requiring user intervention.

Option 2 is a better solution for the things Arn mentioned (e.g. HR issues at work). It's not if the 2nd party shares the information but more their stupidity if they forget to delete a confidential message and their account gets hacked or they leave their message client open unattended for someone to snoop in and read.
 

citi

macrumors 65816
May 2, 2006
1,363
508
Simi Valley, CA
Wonderful, another app to increase the disconnect between parents and children. Could care less how adults use, they can fend for their own security and responsibility.

Not sure what this app does to increase the disconect. You don't need a self destructing text message app to have your child keep things from you. I'm pretty sure you are not with them 24/7 so things that happen at school don't come back to you to. Do you want to ban school?
 

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,142
17,466
Florida, USA
It doesn't matter how many of these apps come about.

There will never be a way to send messages over the net that cannot be logged somehow. Period.

If what you're going to say can be damaging if it gets to people who shouldn't have it, the only current solution is to discuss it in person. And even in that case, the room could be bugged, or the person you're talking to can betray you and have a wire on him.
 

kartikthapar

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2013
37
0
Baltimore
It's a way to automatically delete confidential messages rather than leaving it up to the users to do it in enterprise environments etc. You know, computers are meant to make our lives easier by assisting us in our work?

Option 1. All messages are logged. Users have to manually delete messages.
Option 2. No messages are logged. Messages are automatically deleted without requiring user intervention.

Option 2 is a better solution for the things Arn mentioned (e.g. HR issues at work). It's not if the 2nd party shares the information but more their stupidity if they forget to delete a confidential message and their account gets hacked or they leave their message client open unattended for someone to snoop in and read.

Wow, I can't believe two different people have misread/misunderstood my comment. Did I write something wrong?

I have nothing against auto-prune; it is great. It is something I'd been imagining myself but I don't more resources to invest in a startup so I let it go. I am not talking about self-destructive messages or conversations. I am referring to the gimmick and a totally wrong foundation that they have built their features on. Protecting against screenshots is something that cannot be done. There is video, etc. This shows that their philosophy and vision is lacking in the sense that they somehow assumed the receipt to be an adversary which is a very bad assumption. This is what I am talking about.
 

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,362
5,795
Protecting against screenshots is something that cannot be done. There is video, etc. This shows that their philosophy and vision is lacking in the sense that they somehow assumed the receipt to be an adversary which is a very bad assumption. This is what I am talking about.

But it doesn't matter. Putting some protection against screenshots is just an added casual deterrent. It's silly to argue the "if it can't be done 100%, it shouldn't be done". It's like saying why put a lock on a house if it has windows -- since you can easily break the window and get in. It still serves a purpose.

arn
 

batchtaster

macrumors 65816
Mar 3, 2008
1,031
217
So, with the pervasive problem of spam and phishing, we can expect scammers to re-target their "you have a message" spams at Confide - both masquerading their spam to look like a Confide alert ("click here to download the app; hold tight while we route you through porn sites"), and to annoy people through by randomly targeting their addresses through Confide itself, being able to find out that/when you read it.

I hope they will have a Facebook-style "do not ever send me invitations to join" option. Although they could go one better and make it actually work.
 

jclardy

macrumors 601
Oct 6, 2008
4,138
4,318
Yes, shady business executives, send all your private insider trading information through our app. It is secure, we promise ;)
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,055
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
Couldn't someone just open Confide on your phone when you're not looking and look through the messages?

Serious question here...

If nobody knows that you use Yahoo Mail/Twitter/Snapchat, is it going to be a place where they look through your communications when the moment arises?
 

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
Couldn't someone just open Confide on your phone when you're not looking and look through the messages?

Serious question here...

If nobody knows that you use Yahoo Mail/Twitter/Snapchat, is it going to be a place where they look through your communications when the moment arises?

They could. But this is just a way to take out the user required process of deleting confidential stuff.
 
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