BerryReview.com - BlackBerry News and Reviews
Forgot? | Register
Shop The BerryReview Store

SMS Eraser – Self Destruct SMS and MMS messages.

by Summer on Oct 30th, 2008 at 1:00 pm EST
8 Comments »
 

Review: SMS Eraser
Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Price: $29.95

I was looking through the BerryReview Store and noticed an application called SMS Eraser and I was intrigued by the description: The ability to have SMS or MMS messages self destruct after 1 or 2 views or after 15 seconds.

I thought to give it a try. I downloaded the program and sent a Test SMS message to myself. This is the first menu that you see when you enter the program.  You can save drafts and check out messages that you’ve sent. Just like the native SMS options. You can also set up groups to send mass SMS messages too.

I choose to send the message to myself using the “Use Once” option. But you can send to any of your contacts. One downside being if you make any changes to your contacts or add a new contact, you have to manually refresh your contact list within SMS Eraser using the “Refresh List” option.

Then I choose “New Destructing Text Message”. But as you can see, you can also send a destructing MMS message and regular SMS and MMS messages. I am told that most users use SMS Eraser as their main SMS box by combining their native SMS and Email inboxes and shutting off any SMS notifications. The only problem I have is that the new message envelope is still showing and that any SMS messages that are sent to me, are still located in my SMS/Email inbox. Therefore, I have to continuously go into my native inbox and erase all SMS’s. Although you have the opportunity to send MMS messages with SMS Eraser, all received MMS messages go straight to the native BlackBerry inbox.

Here is a look at the message before its sent. The interface is very clean. Easy to read. Nothing complicated. If you happen to enter a contact and you change your mind, all you have to do is uncheck the name and the contact will disappear from the message.

Then once the SMS was received, I opened it. One problem I noticed was the web link in the message. Not everyone has the web on their phone. I wonder if there is a work around for this? But for now, the best way is through the mobile web. The default notification with SMS Eraser is vibration. There is no option for choosing your setting but I hear that this will be something added to the next version. Also, the LED flashes faster than the native BlackBerry LED. Letting you know that its an SMS message and nothing else. Which is good since I like knowing the difference.

I opened the link. And my message showed up just as I wrote it. Also including a date stamp. Very nice touch, I might add.

And, then I closed the message and opened it up again. Just to see what would happen. Here my message self-destructed and is no longer available for viewing. Even in my SMS Eraser outbox, it shows the same. There is no trace of the message in either the receiving inbox or the sending outbox. This is excellent for businesses who send coupons or discount codes or vital information via text message. Then the message is no longer erased.

SMS Eraser is a really great program with some real promise. This is excellent for sharing vital information that you don’t want distributed throughout the internet. Or maybe photos you only want one person to see 1 or 2 times. Like maybe a shot of a new BlackBerry!

Pros: Self-Destruction for MMS and SMS messages

Simple Interface

Vibration notification

Faster LED notification flash which avoids confusion with email or MMS messages.

Cons: Message receiver needs mobile web to see Self-Destruct message

Must manually refresh any contact changes

No way to change any options

Can send Self Destruct or Regular MMS messages but cannot receive through SMS Eraser

SMS Eraser can be purchased from the BerryReview Store at a price of $29.95 which is small price to pay when security through SMS is important. There is even a free trial available.

Please Share With A Friend!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 and is filed under News.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed to stay on top of the latest BlackBerry news you can use.

Previous Post: Aerize Releases Update to Email Alerts Version 1.1.0 »
Next Post: BeamReader PDF Reader Beta 2 Released – Check It Out »

If you liked this article, you might find these interesting:

Latest Articles:

8 Comments to “SMS Eraser – Self Destruct SMS and MMS messages.”

  1. Posted by: Nikolaus
    October 30, 2008 at 1:47 pm EST

    Isn’t $29.95 super pricey?

  2. Posted by: RedNightHawk
    October 30, 2008 at 3:00 pm EST

    Reminds me of Big String e-mail (not for BB). You can send e-mails there that ’self-destruct’, can’t be saved, are only viewable a certain number of times, or until a certain date, etc.

    I don’t think I’d pay $30 for it since I’m pretty sure anyone could use a BB screen capture program to snag a pic of the SMS and defeat the self-destruct aspect.

  3. Posted by: Corinne
    October 30, 2008 at 3:36 pm EST

    You missed a con: CRAZILY bloated price.

    Surely this thing is not worth $30.

  4. Posted by: BBGun
    October 30, 2008 at 4:17 pm EST

    Horrible editorial!

    Is Summer a relative of one of the BerryReview crew or something? Because that’s the only reason I can see that she would be allowed to continue with her sub-par articles.

  5. Posted by: Vincent Mac
    October 30, 2008 at 9:00 pm EST

    The UI could use a rework. Pretty ugly.

  6. Posted by: Pileosnafu
    October 30, 2008 at 11:53 pm EST

    Will this let sprint users sent MMS (picturemail) via some sort of back-door loop hole type thingy?

  7. Posted by: Jess
    December 29, 2008 at 2:54 pm EST

    I bit..not worth it. Program is cheap, primitive, gimmicky, and worse, it doesn’t work as advertised. The group management function did not work. A change/edit to any one group would apply the change(s) to ALL groups. The worst thing is that the receiving party must have internet or “presumably” mobile web to view messages. News Flash! Not everyone has web on their phones. I was really dissapointed and am trying to get my money back. The price of knowledge is high!