Privacy is a very big deal in the mobile age. All mobile devices are connected with the World Wide Web, and anyone using a cell phone with a data plan is subject to the prying eyes of the digital world. Activities are tracked by businesses for advertising purposes, and everyone nowadays must consider that their actions may be viewed by government agencies – or worse, malevolent hackers. But there is a bit of hope, and its name is Wiper.
Wiper is an app that provides its users with the ability to delete unwanted text messages. This app is not the same as Slingshot or Snapchat, which simply make your messages disappear after an allotted period. With Wiper, everything in a given text, including photos, can be eliminated. Your sent messages, your received messages, even the text messages that were sent and received on other people’s devices. If you were in the conversation, you have the right to get rid of it with Wiper. The service they provide is exhaustive: they remove all evidence of your digital conversation, even from their own servers.
Wiper is simple. It functions like any other messaging system, allowing users to send and receive messages, photos, and videos. The Wiper app can also call the conversant, right from the text messaging console. It’s got a few fun features too. For example: since it’s automatically connected to YouTube, you can share videos just by clicking on them, right from the app. (Also, when and if you decide to “Wipe” a conversation, it gives you a warning – the app asks you to confirm that you want to delete everything.)
The app was created by Manlio Carrelli, when he realized that consumers have little control over their data once it’s out in the cloud. Claiming that we don’t have much say over how long service providers retain our information, Carrelli set out to invent a service that gives that control back to the consumer. And Wiper does just that: with the push of a button, any text conversation you want to delete will vanish into thin air.
The only caveat to Wiper is that it cannot prevent someone from trying to take a snapshot of the text messages. The developers at Wiper have been working to solve this too: users are alerted anytime someone attempts to take a screenshot of the conversation.
So if you’re the type of person to regret that 4 a.m. text, then consider the Wiper app. It’ll give you back the privacy you deserve.
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