How To Send Disappearing ‘Bomb’ Photos on Instagram

Filled with various features, Instagram allows you to engage with the world through photography. Learn how to send other users disappearing (or ‘bomb’) photos.

In the age of social media, we are constantly sharing images with our friends and followers. Whether it’s a photo of what we’re eating for lunch or a picture of our latest vacation spot, we love to document and share our lives online. 

With over 1 billion monthly users, Instagram is one of the most popular social networking platforms out there. And one of the things that make it so unique is its various features — including the ability to send disappearing (or ‘bomb’) photos.

If you’re not familiar with this term, ‘bombing’ refers to when someone sends multiple photos in quick succession. Usually, these photos are unrelated and don’t have any real purpose other than to spam someone’s feed. However, there are times when ‘bombing’ can be used in a fun and harmless way, like when you send a series of photos to a friend as a joke. 

Regardless of the intent, ‘bombing’ is something that many Instagram users have experienced at one point or another. 

Now, you may be wondering how to send disappearing photos on Instagram. It’s actually quite simple and only takes a few steps.

 

The Process: Sending Disappearing Photos on Instagram

Now we’ll go through the entire process of sending disappearing photos with the Instagram app.

  • Step 1: Using your phone, open your Instagram app. If you haven’t installed the app yet, you can download it for free from your app store.
  • Step 2: Sign in with your username and password. If you don’t have an Instagram account yet, you can create one by providing your email address, creating a username and password, and filling out some basic information about yourself.
  • Step 3: Once you’ve opened the app and logged in, on the main screen of the app you’ll see an icon that looks like a paper airplane. This is the icon that you’ll tap to open your direct messages. Click on that icon to bring up your messages.
  • Step 4: In the direct message screen, you’ll see a list of people that you’ve messaged in the past, as well as any new messages that you haven’t seen yet. At this point, you’ll want to find the user that you want to send a disappearing photo to. To find them faster, you can search for their username in the search bar at the top of the screen.
  • Step 5: When you’ve found the user that you want to ‘bomb,’ click on the camera icon next to their username. This will bring up the camera interface.
  • Step 6: Next, simply take the photo that you want to send. Once you’ve taken the photo, you’ll see a few options at the top and bottom of the screen. These include adding filters, adding text, the ability to draw on the photo, and more.
  • Step 7: After taking the photo you want to send, find the photo duration button on the bottom left side of your screen. Keep clicking on the photo duration button — it will toggle between “Allow replay”, “Keep in chat”, and “View once”. If you want the photo to disappear right after being viewed, you’ll need to choose the “View once” selection.
  • Step 8: Finally, once you’ve selected the “View once” option, all you need to do is hit the “Send” button, which is located just opposite the photo duration button on the bottom right side of your screen.
  • Step 9: After clicking “Send”, the photo will now make its way to the user you selected. As soon as it’s viewed just once, the photo you sent will disappear forever.

And there you have it!

These are the simple steps that you need to take in order to send a disappearing photo on Instagram. So the next time you’re feeling extra silly or just want to share a photo without it being saved to your profile, remember to use this handy little feature.

We hope you found this article helpful! If you want to discover additional Instagram tips and tricks, simply click the link below to learn more.