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Don't apps like Snapchat notify the other person if you take a screenshot of your messages?

Yes, iOS has userDidTakeScreenshotNotification for that.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiapplicatio...

Would be nice if the user could disable that.

I think at least in snap it makes sense, the communications are suppose to be ethereal and disappear after reading, I like to know when someone screenshots something and its no longer ethereal

There's an unspecified short/random delay between the user taking the screenshot and the notification firing. The trick used by Bluesky, Telegram etc is using a different technique. They (mis)use secure input fields to show an overlay when the user takes a screenshot.

Yes, Snapchat does this. Apps absolutely have the ability to know when a screenshot is taken.

Snapchat advertises that they detect screenshots. They try. But they're well aware that they can't actually know.

For example, their bug bounty program policy helpfully informs you that "screenshot detection avoidance" is not considered a vulnerability: https://hackerone.com/snapchat . That's because it's always possible.

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