If you’ve been holding back on your social media stalking tendencies, then hold back no more. As originally reported by BuzzFeed, Instagram will no longer alert users when you take a screenshot of their Stories. So whether you want to save that image of an ex or just throw shade at that arch nemesis from high school with your new clique, have at it. Instagram will no longer tattle on you.
Instagram didn’t make a big deal out of the change, though rest assured, the rest of the internet will. After all, there’s nothing that we like better than judging what other people post on social media by immortalizing it, right? Instagram first began testing the screenshot notifications back in February, which needless to say, was not exactly met with joy.
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“We are always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you,” Instagram said when it first started testing screenshot notifications.
Unsurprisingly, this feature was a copycat of Snapchat, which also alerts folks when you’ve decided to snap their Snap. Of course, the “problem” with taking a screenshot of a Story on either Snapchat or Instagram is that they’re meant to be ephemeral — on both platforms, these bite-sized pieces of content are meant to disappear after 24 hours. Of course, that gets messed up if you take a screenshot and send it around to all your friends via a less time-sensitive medium, like texts.
In any case, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app has taken note of the public’s unenthusiastic response to the feature, and has now rolled it back.
Not everyone ever had access to the feature. Users who were able to see when screenshots were taken received a single popup warning after they screenshotted a Story — it read, “Next time you take a screenshot or screen recording, the person who posted the story will be able to see it.” Folks who did receive notifications about screenshots were able to see the name of the screenshot taker alongside a camera shutter icon, as well as a notification letting them know that someone had taken a picture of their post.
But now, those dark days are over, and you can screenshot in peace again.
