WhatsApp update: Messaging app will soon block people from taking screenshot of profile photo

First Published | Feb 24, 2024, 5:28 PM IST

WhatsApp lets people have their profile pictures but for the longest time, people have pointed out the lack of safety if someone tries to screenshot their photo which is a privacy nightmare and can be used with wrongful intentions.

The ability to take screenshots of one-view photographs or videos on WhatsApp has already been disabled, but soon your profile pictures will also be able to use this function. The future feature has been found in the Android beta version 2.24.4.25, which is scheduled to be released to the public in the coming weeks.

WhatsApp allows users to have their profile photographs, but for a very long time, users have complained about the lack of security if someone attempts to take a screenshot of their photo, which is a nightmare for privacy and may be used maliciously.

Screengrabbing someone's photo is a major violation of their privacy, and most of the time you aren't even aware that it's happening. But WhatsApp has come up with a clever technique to notify the user, and it will do the same when they attempt to take a picture of their profile.

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Instead of taking a picture, the messaging app will initially display a black screen and notify the user with a message stating, "Can't take a screenshot due to app restrictions." It seems WhatsApp is not going to have this privacy feature optional, which means you cannot manually change the privacy settings, just in case you feel like doing it.

Not all Meta-owned platforms have this functionality, not even WhatsApp. Facebook has a special function called Profile Picture Guard that prevents other users from capturing screenshots of the picture.

WhatsApp users now have four more choices to add bulleted points, numbered points, in-line quotes, and block quotes to messages they send. The messaging service is also working on new text formatting styles.

Users of desktop, mobile, and even the online version of WhatsApp that runs through browsers may use these shortcuts.

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