Facebook's Poke app can't beat rival in race to lure sexting teens

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Facebook’s latest app, Poke, can’t compete with rival Snapchat, despite proof the messages taken with both apps aren’t so self-destructing after all.
Snapchat’s allure is the ability to send photos and videos that exist just a few seconds before they supposedly vanish from the recipient’s phone — making the app popular among sexting teens who don’t want to leave behind any evidence of their X-rated pics.
Snapchat is the fourth most popular app on the iTunes charts.
Smartphone users haven’t been so keen on Poke, Facebook’s recent attempt to match the popular app.
Introduced two weeks ago, it’s yet to break into iTunes top 100.
The apps are similar. Both allow users to take photos or videos that disappear between one and ten seconds after they’re sent to friends.
If a recipient tries to take a screengrab of the secret message, both apps shoot an alert to the sender.
Once the self-selected time runs out, the photo or video is gone from both phones — unless the sender chose to save it before sending.
But recent reports highlight how users can out-smart the apps.
By plugging their phone into a computer and using a file manager program like iFunBox, anyone can search for a file they were sent and save it before it’s even opened.
Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel told Buzzfeed that “there will always be a way to reverse engineer technology products,” but says the company is working on a way to fix the glitch.
Facebook encouraged Poke users to be aware of what they’re sending through the app, as “there are still ways that people can potentially save them.”