Snapmail Lets You Send Self-Destructing Gmail Messages
There are many options for sending safe and self-destructing messages to others. But what if you really want to send them a message using Gmail? Snapmail is a Chrome extension that allows you to send messages to recipients exactly as they would otherwise, which will be destroyed after 60 seconds.
When messages arrive, they are not really Gmail messages.
After you’ve compiled your top-secret email (or simply wrote down your Netflix account password), you click the Snapmail button at the bottom of the compose window next to the Send button.
When you do this, this email you just composed will be replaced with a message letting the recipient know that they received Snapmail and that they will self-destruct 60 seconds after they gain access to it.
The URL in the post will take them to a safe site where they can read what you wrote (which hopefully is not much, because they only have 60 seconds).
Subsequently, the recipient will have a record that they received an email from you, and even a subject line, but they won’t be able to access the actual message again.
An extension can come in handy for sending things like passwords that you want someone to be able to use once, but also to make sure someone else doesn’t get access. It can also keep the contents of your message safe in case the recipient’s email is hacked.
For the safety nerds, here’s how it’s all done:
Snapmail uses military grade encryption as standard. Your email is encrypted using the AES algorithm and stored on SnapMail’s servers. When you click the submit button, the recipient receives a link to the encrypted content. The encryption key is generated in your browser and included in the link. SnapMail does not store the encryption key, so it cannot read your messages. When the recipient clicks the link, the email content is permanently removed from the SnapMail servers. Hence, it is not possible to retrieve any sensitive data from the Snapmail servers.
You are still sending something over the Internet. So, is this the safest way to contact someone? No. I would not use this to send nuclear codes. But one of the easiest? Absolutely. And it’s much safer than just sending important passwords via email.