Messenger
Screenshot lock on Whatsapp: Why you will soon no longer be able to snap some messages
The screenshot function will be disabled for some messages in the new trial version
© Whatsapp/fizkes / Getty Images
Quickly took a screenshot and forwarded it – this is how many Whatsapp users share chats with others. But that will soon no longer be unrestricted: Messenger is working on a lock for the clipping function
It was one of the most important features of Snapchat: Because you could set the other person to see the pictures only once, Snapchat became enormously popular among young people. And competitor Whatsapp has long since taken over the function. However, the limitation can be easily circumvented there – simply by taking a screenshot. Messenger is now working to stop this.
As the “WABetainfo” blog, which specializes in Whatsapp test versions, reports, there is a corresponding lock in the latest beta version of the messenger for Android. Whatsapp seems to have revised the function for sending photos and videos once, according to the blog. If you try to save one of the expiring messages with a screenshot, you get – Nothing instead.
Whatsapp: No more secret screenshots
This is shown by the blog photos. Instead of displaying the content of the one-time message, a black area simply appears in screenshots. A written note also points out that screenshots are not possible “for security reasons”. Another popular circumvention measure is also blocked: If a user starts the screen recording function of the smartphone to record an image or video in this way, the one-time messages simply cannot be opened. Incidentally, normal messages and media are not affected by the block: If no one-time message is open, the screenshots work as usual.
The decision to block this type of recording was personally announced by Mark Zuckerberg over the summer. He named it as one of three measures that Whatsapp wanted to use to expand its privacy protection. The blocked screenshots are the last of the three measures that are now appearing in trial versions. The other two – the option of being able to look up former participants in group chats for up to 60 days and the ability to show one’s own online status only to specific people – had already appeared in earlier versions.
Not all details known
Not all details about the new screenshot lock have been fully clarified yet. So far, no indication of the implementation in the iPhone version is known. The handling of the web version is also unclear. After all, the browser used for this cannot simply prevent the taking of screenshots. The one-off display will never be completely secure anyway: There is always the possibility of photographing or filming the display with a second smartphone.
It is not yet possible to say when the function will also appear in the regular Whatsapp version. Many tested features appear in the official version just a few weeks after the test phase. Whatsapp had other functions several times in the test phase. The subsequent withdrawal of messages, for example, initially disappeared again in the following test versions and only reappeared later. This time, too, Messenger will probably prefer to do it right instead of having to revise a half-baked function.
Source:WABetaInfo