Snapchat: Newest Instagram or teen 'sexting' tool?

(WXYZ) - Parents do you know what Snapchat is? Some are calling the new mobile app the next Instagram but your teen may be using it for all the wrong reasons.

Teens are flocking to this new app that says to process over 30 million messages a day.

The appeal? Send a photo or video and it allegedly vanishes just moments after it's received.

While some are calling it the next Instagram, Snapchat is making a name for itself as the newest sexting tool with teens.

In an age when teens are constantly being warned to be cautious of what they post online, Snapchat offers a degree of freedom. Its self-destructing messages last no longer than 10 seconds.

Sound too good to be true? It is.

Some photos aren't forever vanishing into cyberspace.

While Snapchat has a feature to deter this from happening, recipients can still take a screen shot of incoming photos and save the image to their phone.

Plus, recently the blog Buzzfeed exposed an apparent security flaw, saying recipients are actually able to retrieve videos intended to vanish.

So parents, just how popular is the new app? Snapchat recently landed on Apple's top ten more popular free apps and was mentioned more than 200,000 times on Twitter New Years Day.