Previewed at WWDC, launching in the fall.
Confide Introducing New 'ScreenShield' SDK That Will Allow Developers to 'Screenshot-Proof' Their Apps
Private and secure messaging app Confide is gaining an interesting new feature that will successfully prevent its users from taking a screenshot within the app, and the team behind Confide is also planning to release the anti-screenshot technology as an SDK that can be used by other app developers.
Called ScreenShieldKit, the new SDK prevents screenshots, screen recording, QuickTime recording, Screen mirroring, Xcode screenshots, and viewing an app's contents in the App Switcher on both the iPhone and the iPad.
There is no dedicated API to stop screenshots from being taken in iOS like there is in Android, so ScreenShieldKit is using a whiteout feature instead. In an app that has ScreenShieldKit enabled, screenshots taken are a blank aside from a single status bar at the top. The same goes for recordings.
Apple does have a feature that prevents screenshots from being taken in apps that stream video content from a server, such as Netflix and iTunes, but since Confide does not stream from a server, Confide's developers tell us it took quite a bit of tweaking and work to develop ScreenShieldKit.
The Confide team used a "collection of technologies" to get ScreenShieldKit to work, and they believe they're the first to come up with this screenshot proofing concept on iOS devices. ScreenShieldKit uses only public APIs, and no private APIs, and it's a seamless experience for end users.
The current version of the Confide confidential messaging app already protects against screenshots by revealing just one line of text at a time, but the new ScreenShield feature is being implemented into the app to provide even more robust screenshot protection.
In the Confide app, ScreenShield will make it so any screenshot captured will show no message content. Confide also already uses end-to-end encryption and erases messages after they've been viewed to provide a secure messaging platform.
While Confide's ScreenShield feature will prevent on-device screenshots, there is, of course, no way to stop people from taking a photo of an iPhone's screen with a secondary device. Still, for on-device use, it's a solid solution that many developers may be interested in adopting.
Confide is offering the ScreenShieldKit feature to developers, with more information available on the ScreenShieldKit website.
The Confide app, with ScreenShield built in, can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Called ScreenShieldKit, the new SDK prevents screenshots, screen recording, QuickTime recording, Screen mirroring, Xcode screenshots, and viewing an app's contents in the App Switcher on both the iPhone and the iPad.
There is no dedicated API to stop screenshots from being taken in iOS like there is in Android, so ScreenShieldKit is using a whiteout feature instead. In an app that has ScreenShieldKit enabled, screenshots taken are a blank aside from a single status bar at the top. The same goes for recordings.
Apple does have a feature that prevents screenshots from being taken in apps that stream video content from a server, such as Netflix and iTunes, but since Confide does not stream from a server, Confide's developers tell us it took quite a bit of tweaking and work to develop ScreenShieldKit.
The Confide team used a "collection of technologies" to get ScreenShieldKit to work, and they believe they're the first to come up with this screenshot proofing concept on iOS devices. ScreenShieldKit uses only public APIs, and no private APIs, and it's a seamless experience for end users.
The current version of the Confide confidential messaging app already protects against screenshots by revealing just one line of text at a time, but the new ScreenShield feature is being implemented into the app to provide even more robust screenshot protection.
In the Confide app, ScreenShield will make it so any screenshot captured will show no message content. Confide also already uses end-to-end encryption and erases messages after they've been viewed to provide a secure messaging platform.
While Confide's ScreenShield feature will prevent on-device screenshots, there is, of course, no way to stop people from taking a photo of an iPhone's screen with a secondary device. Still, for on-device use, it's a solid solution that many developers may be interested in adopting.
Confide is offering the ScreenShieldKit feature to developers, with more information available on the ScreenShieldKit website.
The Confide app, with ScreenShield built in, can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Tag: App Store
[ 82 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
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8 months ago
Enough is enough.
if I pay $1k+ for a phone you better believe i want to be able to take a screen shot on said device.
AE
if I pay $1k+ for a phone you better believe i want to be able to take a screen shot on said device.
AE
8 months ago
Great, so an app can now keep the device owner from creating screen grabs on the device they own? I certainly hope this is completely user configurable, otherwise it is a complete fail.
8 months ago
So I can use someone else phone to take a photo or stick my phone on copier. You can't stop people from screen capturing.
8 months ago
Apple will not allow this when it attracts their attention.
If they were okay with devs limiting screenshotting, they would have simply created an API for it. It's too easy for them.
EDIT: It seems this company has wasted its time.
If they were okay with devs limiting screenshotting, they would have simply created an API for it. It's too easy for them.
EDIT: It seems this company has wasted its time.
8 months ago
I'll stop using any app that prevents me from taking screenshots. I hope no developer thinks this is a good idea, because in my opinion, it is not.
8 months ago
point second camera at screen, take photo. Done.
edit: all these copy protection measures forget the simple fact that if the recipient can see the data they can find a way to reproduce it. Making it less convenient doesn't stop it. Case in point, the continued market for people who take camcorders into movie theaters and make barely watchable reproductions. Bottom line, is you snap a lewd to someone expect that there will always be a way they can capture it and later retransmit.
edit: all these copy protection measures forget the simple fact that if the recipient can see the data they can find a way to reproduce it. Making it less convenient doesn't stop it. Case in point, the continued market for people who take camcorders into movie theaters and make barely watchable reproductions. Bottom line, is you snap a lewd to someone expect that there will always be a way they can capture it and later retransmit.
8 months ago
Great, so an app can now keep the device owner from creating screen grabs on the device they own? I certainly hope this is completely user configurable, otherwise it is a complete fail.
I think this is marketed to developers so they can prevent the user from doing what they want. Like every other attempt to prevent "copying", this will create complexity and be defeated like all the others.
8 months ago
The obvious fact that you are able to take a picture of the screen or even record it using other devices means this "feature" is more of a hinderance and nuisance than it is actually a security enhancement
8 months ago
If your messages are so sensitive, consider more secure media than mobile messaging?
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