Instagram Testing Feature That Alerts Users When You Screenshot a Story

Monday February 12, 2018 2:34 PM PST by Juli Clover
Instagram is testing a new feature that will send an alert whenever you take a screenshot of a story, effectively putting an end to the practice of covertly taking screenshots of the temporary story posts on the social network.

News of the new feature was shared on Twitter by a user who posted an image of a screenshot warning message. Instagram plans to offer a one-time warning letting screenshotters know that subsequent screenshots or screen recordings will be visible to the person who posted the story.

Image via Twitter user Mulan
The feature is being tested with a small number of users. Participants can see who took a screenshot of their story by going to the list of story viewers and checking to see if there are camera icons next to any of the names. A flash icon denotes a user who took a screenshot.

Instagram does not plan to send out notifications when a screenshot of a story is captured, but it will be visible in the list of people who viewed the story.


Instagram confirmed to TechCrunch that the feature is in testing right now: "We are always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you."

It's not yet clear if and when Instagram will officially introduce this feature.

Tag: Instagram
39 comments


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Starship67
20 months ago
Don’t want someone to screenshot your photos don’t post em on social media.
Rating: 29 Votes
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jgelin
20 months ago
I don’t think that an application should know when I am taking a screenshot, it is happening at the OS level and it shouldn’t be able to be caught and alerted on by an application.
Rating: 13 Votes
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zorinlynx
20 months ago

I don’t think that an application should know when I am taking a screenshot, it is happening at the OS level and it shouldn’t be able to be caught and alerted on by an application.


I know, right? What business does an app have knowing I took a screenshot?

Also, what's with this new idiotic concept of it being creepy or stalkery to save a screenshot? If you don't want people saving your content, don't post it. We really don't need people depending on psuedo-DRM in apps like Instagram and thinking they are safe from having people copy their precious content, when they are actually not. The Internet and social media should be about sharing content anyway, not restricting it.
Rating: 11 Votes
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fairuz
20 months ago
For what reason, other than to copy Snapchat even more?
Rating: 9 Votes
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kahkityoong
20 months ago

Interested to know how it’s beneficial to know who took a screenshot?


So girls can keep tabs on creepy stalkery guys.
Rating: 8 Votes
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expiredyogurt
20 months ago
next level reward for attention whore womens.
in this age, likes and thumbs up are no longer the hot thing, it's how many people can you get to screenshot your **** is the next hot thing.
likes can be bought and most of them are fake and people might accidentally double tap to like so they dont care about it anymore.
screenshot on the other hand requires more effort and it gives them pleasure to see people saving their photos.
sucks for the small time girls where they will be able to see which one of their guy friends are creeping them but for social media celeb its just another way to satisfy their ego
Rating: 7 Votes
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BasicGreatGuy
20 months ago

Don’t want someone to screenshot your photos don’t post em on social media.

With that attitude, you will never be the most important person on the internet. Best rethink your logical posting.
Rating: 7 Votes
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Recognition
20 months ago
Interested to know how it’s beneficial to know who took a screenshot?
Rating: 5 Votes
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recoil80
20 months ago

Thieves will always find a way. I’m not even a thief but a photographer myself and what immediately came to mind was creating fake accounts to snap content and then post it somewhere else. Easy.


Or just use the web version, inspect the element and you can find the link to the full size picture.
I know many people use social networks on their smartphones, but if one is really motivated to steal your pictures the screenshot notification is useless.
Rating: 5 Votes
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Mrjoedot
20 months ago
Privacy’s gone pffff
Rating: 5 Votes
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