Snapchat vs Slingshot: Which self-destructing messages app wins this battle?

Ephemeral or self-destructing messaging apps are the new breed of photo-sharing apps that have caught the fancy of users and developers. It all started with Snapchat which automatically discarded photos after the recipient sees them. It’s a unique concept that has quickly become popular among youngsters, as it destroys all evidence that a photo or video was taken.   Snapchat was the first and lately the app has expanded its role to videos as well as popular events. Snapchat’s rival Slingshot was recently launched by Facebook, that works in a similar fashion, and it’s a clear challenge to the original. But is it a better alternative? We try out both these apps to find out for ourselves.   How they work Snapchat is very straightforward to use. You can send snaps to anyone on your contacts list who has installed the app. The receiver can view a photo or video for a set amount of time before it deletes itself.   Slingshot is slightly more complicated than that. Sending or ‘slinging’ a photo is easy but, to view the photo you’ve sent, the receiver will have to click a photo and sling it back to you. It also demands a reaction from the receiver every time you send a photo, which we think is quite annoying.   Winner: Snapchat has a simpler method of sharing photos, as you don’t have to compulsively respond to the sender with a photo or video.   Features      Snapchat allows you to doodle, add text and photo filters. It also provides Geofilters or customised graphics to display your location. However, this feature is not available everywhere yet. You can also save the edited photos before sending them, which is also possible with Slingshot.   Slingshot also lets you doodle and add text to your photos and videos. It displays your name and the time that you took the photo, which annoyingly, cannot be turned off and is certainly not the greatest of features. Unlike Snapchat, it lacks filters and you can’t use it to send text messages to your friends, which Snapchat does let you do.   Winner: Snapchat is relatively more feature-rich, though you can expect Slingshot to introduce new features with time. However, Snapchat has managed to get its basics right, which allows it more freedom to experiment with new features. Slingshot still feels a little unfinished in terms of its feature set.   Security With Snapchat, you get notified if the receiver saves a snapshot of your photo. Though not absolutely secure, it’s better than not knowing at all. Slingshot, does not send you any notification of the receiver saving your photo. This makes it less safe in comparison with Snapchat.   Winner: Snapchat deals with the situation of screenshots well, while Slingshot has no such feature.   Overall, Snapchat is still the better offering, and we are not at all surprised. Snapchat began as an ephemeral app that’s been adding other features, while SlingShot really emerged as its rival. As such it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Though both apps claim to do the same thing, Snapchat is a lot more refined and easy to use.   Which one do you prefer? Tell us what you think of them in the comments section below.