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Comment by MBCook

12 hours ago

I’ve seen another app do that but for a different reason. It’s for security cameras and they use it to show a “hey idiot just press the save a picture button, don’t take screenshots” popup, which is also hostile.

I’m not sure why the app needs to be notified. There must be some use but I can’t think of it off the top of my head.

Yeah it’s Snapchat. If you take a screenshot of a (potentially extremely private, intended to be ephemeral) image, it notifies the person who sent it.

  • Anyone can take a "snap" of the phone screen with another phone's camera so this is a losing battle anyway.

    It amuses me that browsers in incognito mode refuse to allow screenshots on mobile. But same browser running incognito on a desktop can be merrily screenshotted. What is the difference they are trying to enforce based purely on device form factor/OS.

> I’m not sure why the app needs to be notified. There must be some use but I can’t think of it off the top of my head.

My pet theory: it's because Snapchat got big early, platforms added the feature to facilitate Snapchat's business model, and then banks started abusing it, and it stuck around "because sekhurity".

  • No, that feature long predates Snapchat. In fact, I think it predates iOS, but I don’t remember for sure.