Your secret screenshotting may not be so secret anymore!
The popular photo app Instagram is testing a new feature that shows users when someone has taken a screenshot of their story.
Instagram rolled out its Snapchat-like Stories function last year. It was quickly embraced by users with more than 250 million people using it every day according to the company.
Stories appeal to users as the content disappears after 24 hours. However, it has become quite common for people to take screenshots of celebrity posts or those of other people they follow.
Instagram is currently testing an update to stories which will notify users if someone takes a screenshot of something in their story. To see who has taken a screenshot, the story creator goes to their list of story viewers and a camera shutter logo will appear to whoever has taken the screenshot.
Good bye freedom to screenshot IG stories. 💔 Thank you, Instagram for the warning. pic.twitter.com/y0pEaVR0Jq
— mulan (@__cajb) February 8, 2018
PSA: How you get notified on Instagram when someone took a screenshot of your Stories pic.twitter.com/Iua2QeyskF
— iz reading On the Edge of Scandal 🍑 (@readbyher) February 11, 2018
Instagram released the following statement on the update, “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.”
So if you’re a fan of screenshotting stories of someone you fancy, things may get a little awkward if Instagram rolls out this feature to all users.
Help! Is there a hack to stop Instagram alerting people when you’ve taken a screenshot?
As always, people are out there, trying all sorts of workarounds to ensure we can cheat the system, yassss. According to some peeps on Twitter, setting your phone to aeroplane or flight mode while you take the screenshots will stop the app from figuring out what you’re doing… And the “target” of your screenshot won’t be alerted.
We’ve also heard the other way to avoid getting sprung is to visit the Instagram desktop website – still a screenshot alert-free zone.
