Fade Out
Sending Self-Destructing Texts

As recent events with a certain former congressman from New York (and not-so-recent events with a certain former golf megastar) have shown, some texts can get you in a heap of trouble.

You know the kind.

We’re not here to tell you if sending such texts is right or wrong. We’re just here to tell you how not to get caught.

Introducing FadeAway, an app for ensuring your texts will self-delete, available now online.

Think of this as your fail-safe the next time you have a secret rendezvous with your secretary or even your secretary’s more flexible roommate (not that we condone such actions).

Once this is downloaded onto your phone, you’ll add the people you wish to text with in private (Mom, no; blackjack dealers in Vegas, yes). Then, you’ll begin corresponding as normal (assuming flirtatious messages and racy picture-texts of yourself are considered normal).

All messages sent from this will only be visible on your phone through the app (so no potentially dangerous duplicates will show up in your Sent folder). And—the crucial functionality—there’s a timer that allows you to set how long you want the text message to be visible on the app, be it five minutes or several hours.

Tip: go with five minutes.