View once
Send a photo or voice message the other person can open exactly once — what each side sees, what is deleted where, and the one thing it cannot prevent.
View once marks a single photo or voice message as openable one time. After the other person has opened it, neither device has it any more: theirs deletes it when the viewer closes, and yours never kept a copy to begin with.
It is offered for exactly one photo, or one voice message — not for a video, not for a file, and not for a message with two things attached.
Turn it on
- Attach the photo, or record the voice message but do not send it yet.
- The switch sits on the thing itself: on a staged picture it is the disc beside the cross; in the voice review row it is between the duration and Save audio. Press it once.Web & desktop screenshotThe switch sits on the thing itself — the disc beside the cross on a staged picture, and between the duration and Save audio in the voice review row.This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.
The switch sits on the thing itself — the disc beside the cross on a staged picture, and between the duration and Save audio in the voice review row.Web & desktop iPhone screenshotThe switch sits on the thing itself — the disc beside the cross on a staged picture, and between the duration and Save audio in the voice review row.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.The switch sits on the thing itself — the disc beside the cross on a staged picture, and between the duration and Save audio in the voice review row.iPhone Android screenshotThe switch sits on the thing itself — the disc beside the cross on a staged picture, and between the duration and Save audio in the voice review row.Same screen as on the web, single column. This capture is produced by the screenshot pipeline and will appear here.The switch sits on the thing itself — the disc beside the cross on a staged picture, and between the duration and Save audio in the voice review row.Android - When it is on it is loud about it — the picture carries a View once chip, and the voice tray's disc is filled. In the voice tray, the first time you turn it on, a line under it explains what you have chosen: View once. Plays one time on their device, then it is gone there. Nothing is kept here either.
- Send.
Press the switch again to turn it off. Removing the picture, or replacing it, resets the switch.
What each side sees
Your side, permanently: a small bubble reading Photo · View once (or Voice message · View once). There is nothing to open — your own copy was not kept — and there is no receipt telling you whether it has been opened. Nothing on the wire carries one.
Their side, before opening: a placeholder with an accent dot, reading Photo and Tap to view once, or for a voice message the duration and plays once. No thumbnail, no poster, no waveform — the picture is not drawn anywhere until they open it.
Their side, while open: the photo full screen, with the footer Closing deletes it here. A browser cannot block screenshots. A voice message plays through once.
Their side, afterwards: the bubble greys out and reads Opened · Photo · not kept on this device.
In the chat list the row reads Photo · View once rather than a preview, and a reply to a view-once message quotes it as text only — View once · Photo — on both devices.
It cannot stop a screenshot, a screen recording, or a second phone photographing the screen — and the app does not pretend otherwise; the viewer says so in its own footer. Nothing technical can prevent a person who can see something from keeping it. View once removes the copies that Private.Ki controls. It is not a way to show something to someone you do not trust.
If it is never opened
An unopened view-once message does not sit there forever. Both copies are deleted after 14 days, or sooner if the conversation has a self-destruct timer shorter than that — see Self-destructing messages.
What our server sees
Cannot see
- That the message is view once — the marker is inside the encrypted message
- The photo or the recording
- Whether it was opened
Can see
- A deletion deadline on the two copies, which is how an unopened one is swept
Common questions
Can I send a video as View once?
No — one photo or one voice message. A video is always an ordinary attachment.
Can I check whether they opened it?
No. There is no "opened" state on your side, because reporting one would mean their device telling ours that they looked — which is the same read receipt Private.Ki deliberately does not do. See Delivery ticks, typing indicator — and no read receipts.
Can I open my own view-once message to check what I sent?
No. Your copy is not kept, on purpose. Look at the picture before you send it.
Is this the same as a self-destruct timer?
No. A timer applies to every message in the conversation and counts from when each was sent. View once applies to one attachment and ends when the other person opens it. They can be used together.
Can they save it by not closing the viewer?
Leaving it open keeps it on screen, but the copy is gone as soon as the viewer closes, and closing is the only way out of it. This is exactly the limit the footer is honest about: screen contents can always be captured by the device itself.