The core purpose of social media is posting and sharing snippets of our lives.
Quite often than not, we like to archive other users' selected snippets for later use by screenshotting a post or a chat screen.
With the many notifications we get on the app, some worry that taking a screenshot of posts will notify the users who uploaded them.
This article will distinguish between the IG actions that send notifcations to Instagram users and those that don't.
Instagram Notification Policies:
Story Screenshot Notification:
In Instagram's early days, people were notified when someone took a screenshot of their story.
In 2018, due to privacy issues, this feature was disabled, and since then, anyone could take story screenshots without ease or fear of being 'caught'.
If you’d like to delve even deeper to the screenshots policy regarding story uploads, this article will tell you if it's possible to know who took screenshots of IG stories.
Chat Screenshot Notifications:
Chats can be divided into two categories:
- The text messages and video/ pictures that do not 'expire' or disappear; screenshots of these will not result in a notification.
- On the other hand, 'Disappearing messages' of videos and photos that could only be viewed within a limited time following their arrival will send a notification to the other conversation partner; better make sure you're aware of these to avoid misunderstandings.
Post Notifications:
Unfortunately, we will not get a notification if one of our followers takes a screenshot of any photo/video we posted, regardless of our profile being a private/public one.
Other Alternatives For Screenshots
If you see something exciting on someone else's Instagram story or feed that you must save for later, screenshots are not the only ways to do so:
- There is a small bookmark symbol on the bottom right side of the post.
Upon clicking it, the post will immediately be moved to the 'saved' section on your profile, where you can always go back to it whenever you want. - Alternatively, you can also use the screen recording feature, which allows us to save videos posted on both the story and the feed.
There is no need to worry that this action will notify the owner because there are no notifications for screen recordings.
Conclusion
Now that we cleared the air about IG notifications, you can enjoy much more comfortable and free use of the app.