October 5th 2022
WhatsApp starts blocking screenshots for view once images and videos
by Android Police
In August 2021, WhatsApp took a cue from Snapchat and added the ability to send view once media on its platform. The feature allows users to send photos and videos that can only be seen once—they self-destruct after that. It is a handy option to have, especially when sharing private and sensitive photos.
But the Meta-owned company made a major oversight in how it implemented the feature: you could take screenshots of view once media, thereby defeating their entire purpose. A year later, in August 2022, Mark Zuckerberg announced that screenshot blocking was soon coming to WhatsApp for self-destructing media. The feature is now showing up for some beta testers of the app.
WABetaInfo reports that WhatsApp has released a new version of its view once media viewer with built-in screenshot blocking for selected beta users. Like on Google Pay and other apps, when you try to take a screenshot of a self-destructing media on the latest WhatsApp beta, a toast message will appear saying, "Can't take screenshot due to security policy."
Using a third-party app or extension to bypass this security limitation won't work either. You will end up with a black screenshot. Similarly, you cannot record the screen while opening a view once media. Unlike on Snapchat though, WhatsApp does not inform the sender of the media that the recipient tried to take a screenshot.
Despite WhatsApp testing these new privacy measures for self-destructing media, remember that it is always possible for the recipient to use a secondary phone to click a photo or record a video of the view once content.
For now, WhatsApp has rolled out the new self-destructing media viewer with screenshot blocking to selected Android testers running v2.22.22.3 or newer. A wider beta test should happen in the coming weeks before the feature is rolled out to the public.
