Instagram Tells You When Someone Takes A Screenshot, But It's Not As Scary As You Think
Don't freak out yet.
By John Lim — 28 Nov 2016, 05:34 PM
Recently, Facebook-owned Instagram announced the addition of live video and disappearing messages (ahem, Snapchat)
Instagram Live lets you broadcast video to your followers in real-time, but they can only watch while you’re still streaming. No replays!
On the other hand, disappearing messages have been added into Instagram Direct. When you go to share a photo or video to Instagram Stories, you’ll be able to also select friends or groups of friends to send it to. It’s much like how you can send Snapchat Stories as private messages.
Recipients can watch the messages once, and replay them once, then they’re gone.
However, there's been less focus on the updates because there’s a terrifying rumour stating that Instagram will send people a notification if you screenshot their public photos!
Hang on, hang on. Don't freak out just yet. Yes, Instagram threw in screenshot notification in the updates - but only when someone screenshots a disappearing message!
What this means is that if you screenshot someone's private disappearing photo or video, the person will receive a notification from Instagram thus exposing your stealthiness.
In a blog post, Instagram also stated that a notification will be sent if someone replays a disappearing video
Send anything you want, from inside jokes to your worst selfies. Unlike other messages in Direct, these photos and videos disappear from your friends’ inboxes after they have seen them. And you’ll see if they replayed it or took a screenshot.
instagram.comSo there you have it, you can still screenshot your friend's regular photos to your heart's content without being exposed
But of course, be wise and don't end up screenshotting a disappearing message or you'll have a lot of explaining to do. :)