Stalking friends on social media can be fun. But Instagram wants to make things harder for you.
Forget about taking screenshots when creeping on your friends’ Instagram Stories. Previously, users have been able to record or screenshot other people’s Stories posts secretly, without being detected. With an update, Instagram is making a huge change to its app: starts notifying users whenever someone is recording or screenshots their Stories.
Here, a sun-shaped symbol will appear alongside their name in the Story Views section.
Instagram will warn you before it switches screenshot notifications on, by displaying a popup message reading: “Next time you take a screenshot or screen recording, the person who posted the story will be able to see it.”
Stories posts automatically self-destruct after being posted for a day. This is why screen recording and taking screenshots are popular when others want to make permanent copies of them.
This is just another Snapchat feature that Instagram blatantly copied.
Despite the change, it is worth noting that there are still ways to screenshot Stories without getting detected.
For example, setting your phone into flight mode while taking screenshots won’t trigger Instagram’s warnings. Another workaround is to download stories from the Instagram website. There are also some apps on iOS and Android that can do the trick just well.
Instagram is rolling out the feature gradually to all users.
Earlier in January the company enabled activity status in its direct messages, effectively allowing people to see when the last time you were actively using the app.