SAN FRANCISCO — Snapchat settled with the Federal Trade Commission over claims that its photo messages don’t always disappear, in the latest hiccup for the fast-growing startup.

While the Los Angeles-based company has publicized and marketed how the annotated photos that its users send through its mobile application will “disappear forever” after a few seconds, there are several easy workarounds that Snapchat failed to address or let users know about, the FTC said Thursday. Snapchat also wasn’t always alerting users when recipients take a screenshot of messages, and failed to a secure a feature called “find friends” that had a flaw that led to a data breach, the FTC said.

“If a company markets privacy and security as key selling points in pitching its service to consumers, it is critical that it keep those promises,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement. “Any company that makes misrepresentations to consumers about its privacy and security practices risks FTC action.”

The FTC attention is part of the growing pains that Snapchat is experiencing. The company has quickly accumulated a large user base and attracted the attention of Internet giants including Facebook Inc.