Snapchat’s love for privacy is evident from all the extraordinary features it offers. These unique features make the platform interesting and fun. However, some of the privacy features seem way too far-fetched. Take screenshots, for example. Snapchat notifies a person when you take a screenshot of their messages. Clearly, the platform doesn’t want you to take screenshots without consent and get away with it, which is fine. However, the same thing happens when you take a screenshot of a friend’s profile!
This feature naturally makes users wary of taking screenshots anywhere on the app. After all, nobody wants to send unwanted notifications to their friends whenever they take screenshots on the app.
Even if you want to take a screenshot of the Chat List dashboard of your Snapchat app, you might be confused about whether Snapchat notifies anyone about this screenshot as well. Well, we understand your confusion.
But do you really need to be worried in this case? Does Snapchat notify anyone if you take a screenshot of your Chats tab? Let’s find it out.
Will Anyone Know if You Screenshot Snapchat Chat List Dashboard?
Snapchat has made us cautious about taking screenshots. Every time you see a beautiful photo, an important message, or anything else you want to save to your phone, the thought of that notification pops up.
But in reality, screenshots are mostly harmless and don’t even mean anything to most people. True, screenshotting sensitive images or messages is NOT a good thing at all. Still, most screenshots are completely harmless and do not breach anyone’s privacy.
For example, if you only want to screenshot the chat list of your Snapchat app, it’s most likely harmless for everyone.
Guess what? Snapchat understands that! The platform doesn’t notify anyone if you screenshot your chat list on Snapchat. The platform sends notifications only if you take screenshots from certain sections of the app, and your chat list is definitely not one of these sections.
Since the chat list doesn’t contain anyone’s private information, it’s completely safe to take screenshots without worrying about notifications.
However, how does Snapchat decide which screenshots require a notification to be sent and which ones don’t? Let’s find that out.
How do screenshot notifications on Snapchat work?
User privacy is one of Snapchat’s non-negotiables. The platform is keen to keep its users secure and expects each user to behave respectfully with others.
However, that cannot happen if users keep screenshotting their friends’ messages or snaps! Most Snapchatters are very serious about their privacy and don’t like people to capture their private messages or snaps they send across the platform.
Snapchat is well aware of this concern and knows how to deal with it without trying to block screenshots. Blocking users from taking screenshots will be too unnecessary, anyway. That’s why the app does it differently by simply notifying the concerned user about the screenshot.
If you consider it properly, sending notifications instead of trying to block screenshots is quite a smart move. By telling the concerned user that their friend just took a screenshot of their messages, Snapchat leaves it to the friends to deal with the matter as they wish.
Besides, screenshots are pretty harmless most times; no use blocking them for no reason!
When does Snapchat send screenshot notifications?
We have understood why Snapchat sends notifications when you take certain screenshots on the app. Now, let’s delve into when Snapchat sends these notifications, i.e., which screenshots send notifications to users.
Taking screenshots on Snapchat will not always send notifications to your friends. Snapchat notifies a user about a screenshot only if the screenshot can contain private information.
Therefore, any section of the app that might contain a user’s identifying information will attract notifications if you screenshot them. But what can this identifying information be?
That’s a no-brainer. It mostly has to do with usernames and photos. A person’s username is personal information on Snapchat, as it can be used to find them. Similarly, photos can contain selfies or other private things that should be hidden from everyone except the intended audience.
Keeping these two factors in mind, we can conclude that Snapchat may send notifications of screenshots when the screenshot might contain any personal information.
Can you screenshot messages on Snapchat without notifying anyone?
We know you’ve been looking for this question all the way. So here it is. And guess what? We have got a positive answer! Yes, with some effort, taking screenshots of chats without notifying anyone is possible. Here’s how:
Step 1: Open Snapchat and log into your account.
Step 2: Go to the Chats tab and open the desired conversation. Go to the part of the conversation you want to screenshot.
Step 3: Turn off your mobile data and take a screenshot. You will see that the notification text has appeared on the chat. Don’t worry; it’s still inside your phone and won’t go anywhere unless you turn on your data.
Step 4: You need to delete the notification text from your phone. To do this, open the Settings app and go to Application Manager.
Step 5: You will see a list of apps installed on your phone. Find and select Snapchat.
Step 6: On Snapchat’s App Info screen, scroll down and tap on Storage. Then tap on Clear Data.
Don’t worry; clearing Snapchat’s data won’t delete any of your conversations, chats, or photos. It would only log you out of your account.
Step 7: After successfully deleting Snapchat’s app data, turn on your mobile data and open Snapchat. Log into your account and open that conversation you screenshotted.
You will see that the notification text has disappeared! In fact, it has been deleted forever and hasn’t reached the other person. This way, you took a screenshot without notifying the user.
You can apply similar steps to screenshot other things, like friends’ profile pages, snaps, stories, etc. Just make sure to disable mobile data just before taking the screenshot and enabling it again after deleting Snapchat’s data.
Summing up
Snapchat sends notifications when you screenshot chats, snaps, or stories. Due to this, it is normal to wonder if screenshotting the chat list also notifies the user.
However, you need not worry, as screenshotting the chat list doesn’t send any notification to anyone. Notifications are sent only when the screenshot might contain sensitive or personally identifying information. Still, there is a workaround for taking screenshots without notifying anyone, and we have discussed it in this blog.
If you found this blog valuable, share it with your Snapchat friends. Keep coming to our blog for more interesting content!
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