The encrypted messaging app Signal has introduced a new feature – stories are now officially available to all its users on iOS and Android, and they're coming to desktop soon, too. Stories allow you to share images, videos, and text updates and are end-to-end encrypted. The official launch of the new feature comes a few weeks after Signal first began beta testing it with select users.

To create and share a story, you can click on the "My Stories" icon located at the top of the screen or the camera icon. This opens the viewfinder to help you take a quick picture and share it with friends. You can also select a photo from your phone's gallery to share it as a story.

You can choose who can see your stories by navigating to settings. You can share your stories with everyone on your phone's contact list who uses the app, anybody you've had a one-on-one conversation with, or anyone whose message request you've accepted.

In addition, you have the option to allow selected contacts and existing group chats to view your stories, and you can also manually hide stories from specific people.

Stories automatically expire 24 hours after publication and can be manually deleted any time earlier.

To opt out of stories altogether, you should go to Settings – Stories – Turn off stories. If you turn off the story feature, you will also lose the ability to see the stories of others.