There have been a number of cases over the years where celebrities may have been in a relationship with someone, and down the line if they break up risqué images are leaked online to cause further embarrassment to those in question, but a Self-destructing SnapChat app prevents such images going viral.

The free SnapChat application puts a time limit on images that are sent to a person so they can only view them for a set amount of time, and according to Cnet the time limit can be set for between one and ten seconds before the image self destructs. Once the person who is being sent the images receives it they can view it by holding a button while a timer counts down before the image self destructs.

Trouble is though the person receiving the image could easily take a screenshot of the image, but SnapChat’s answer to this is to send the person sending the image a notification that a screenshot has been taken. Whether this would deter people from taking a screenshot is anybody’s guess.

The developers of the app, Future Freshman, LLC, has revealed that it stores the images on its servers and is claiming they quickly delete them, but doesn’t offer any guarantees that the images will be deleted.

At least the application does do something to prevent risqué images from going viral, but to guarantee images don’t get in the wrong hands its best not to take them in the first place. SnapChat can be found on the App Store and is free to download, and the application has already received positive reviews from users.

The app is compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch 4G and an iPad with an Internet connection running iOS 4.0 or later. Do you like the sound of the SnapChat application?