BERLIN: The privacy-oriented messenger app Signal is now letting users post Stories with pictures, videos and texts like on Instagram and other social media platforms.

Visible for 24 hours, the so-called Stories can now be posted using both the iOS and Android versions of the app (from version 6.0), while a desktop update to Signal is set to follow shortly.

Like with Signal messages, all Stories data is end-to-end encrypted. However with Stories, your pictures, videos and text disappear automatically after 24 hours.

You can also decide who gets to see your Story in the app's settings. Here you can pick between all contacts on Signal and a specific groups. You can also set it so that stories are hidden from certain people.

The custom stories stetting maks it easier to share stories with smaller predefined subgroups of people, such as work colleagues or school friends.

You can also send stories to existing group chats, meaning that every member of the group can see the story, even if they are not an immediate contact.

If you do not want to share stories or see stories from others, you can deactivate the story function under "Settings - Stories - Switch off stories".

 - dpa