Instagram is a great platform to keep in touch with the people you care about and admire, not to mention it’s an excellent place to find creative and enthralling visual content. Users may even want to screenshot appealing pictures you’ve shared for future reference. So, how do you know if someone has taken a screenshot on your Instagram?
Instagram won’t send you a notification if someone has taken a screenshot of your profile, grid posts, stories, or reels. You’ll only get notifications for screenshots of disappearing content you’ve shared via Direct Message within the app using the disappearing content feature.
While Instagram allows people to bookmark content, they can also take quick screenshots for offline viewing. So it doesn’t matter if it’s a great recipe you’ve posted, a story about your birthday, or anyone else’s—your followers can always screenshot it and save it to their camera roll. Let’s get started so you know everything about Instagram screenshot notifications.
Does Instagram Notify You When Someone Screenshots Your Instagram?
Instagram only sends notifications when someone screenshots a disappearing photo or video you’ve taken with the camera inside the app’s message window and is sent via direct message. You won’t get notifications when other users screenshot or screen record grid posts, stories, or reels.
Regular photo or video posts you see in the Home feed on user profiles or the Instagram Explore page are immune from screenshot notifications. So even if you’ve decided to record your device’s screen when someone else’s video post is playing, they won’t get a notification.
While Instagram spent a couple of months in the past testing a feature where users could see who screenshotted their stories, the feature was quickly rolled back. Since then, users can freely screenshot or screen grab other people’s stories without the other party getting a notification.
However, there’s no guarantee the platform has gotten rid of the story screenshot notifications for good. Perhaps, in the future, the testing could resume, and it will likely be a better upgrade.
Remember, Instagram notification features have changed in the past and may again, so your best bet is to check from time to time.
Many users also worry people may get notifications they’ve taken screenshots of their profiles. Thankfully, Instagram doesn’t send notifications of profile screenshots. This particularly comes in handy if you want to quickly save someone’s website or contact info shown in their bio without following them on IG.
Moreover, Instagram won’t send notifications when you screenshot any other part of the app, including a person’s list of followers or other screens, including photos.
Instagram will only send notifications for screenshots of disappearing content sent in a private DM thread. When someone screenshots a disappearing video or photo you’ve shared via direct message, you’ll see a small hatched circle (or starburst icon) beside it.
What is a Disappearing Direct Message?
A disappearing direct message is a photo or video you take with the camera in the Instagram message window and send to a group or individual via Instagram Direct. It’s a disappearing message because the other party can only view it once or twice if you’ve enabled replay.
However, sending someone a photo or video from your camera roll via direct message doesn’t count as a disappearing message. This means you won’t get a notification if they screenshot it.
Other content they can screenshot in a direct chat without you getting notified includes individual messages and conversation history.
Instagram’s Help section shows that you won’t get notifications for screenshots of non-disappearing content sent via direct chat. This goes for text, hashtags, and posts from feeds.
How to Tell if Someone Has Screenshot Your Direct Message
Instagram will send you a pop-up notification on your smartphone if a user screenshots a photo or video you’ve sent in a private DM thread. The notification usually shows the username of the person who took the screenshot.
You’ll see a small starburst icon next to the photo or video that has been screenshotted in the chat. You’ll also see the note “Screenshot” in the conversation summary of your main messages page.
It’s crucial to know Instagram only notifies you of Direct Message screenshots, not those of stories, reels, posts, or permanent DMs in the app.
Third-Party Apps
That said, beware of third-party apps that claim to send you notifications of Instagram screenshots.
They’re probably far outdated or total scams because Instagram strictly limits third-party app capabilities via the platform’s API. This is due to privacy and security reasons, meaning no third-party app can tell who’s screenshotting your content.
On most occasions, apps that claim to notify of Instagram screenshots are malicious. For example, they could compromise your Instagram account or infect your smartphone with hard-to-get-around viruses.
If you’ve already installed a third-party app that claims to give you Instagram screenshot notifications, uninstall it immediately from your smartphone. And if you already gave it your account details, change your Instagram password and enable two-factor authentication to be safe.
Can You Avoid Your Posts Being Screenshot on Instagram?
The only way to prevent strangers from taking screenshots of your Instagram posts is by making your profile private. Otherwise, you don’t have any control over who can take screenshots.
A private profile means only your followers can take screenshots of your Instagram. As such, your friends and family can still view your profile, but your non-followers won’t see anything beyond your profile picture and name. The latter can’t screenshot your posts, bio information, or stories.
Can Someone Take a Screenshot Without Being Detected?
Someone can still take a screenshot on Instagram without being detected if they’re using the web platform or they’ve put their phone in Airplane Mode. Here’s how it works:
Method 1: Opening Instagram in a Web Browser
If someone has logged onto their Instagram in a web browser, they can take a screenshot of a disappearing photo or video without the other party knowing. But, for some reason, Instagram doesn’t usually notify you when screenshots are taken in a web browser.
Method 2: Putting the Phone in Airplane Mode
If you screenshot a disappearing message when your phone is in Airplane Mode, the other party won’t get a notification.
Another option is to use a second smartphone or camera to take a snapshot of the disappearing message. However, this doesn’t yield the best quality.
If you’re trying these methods to avoid the screenshot notification, you should never share anyone’s image, personal information, or sensitive content without their consent.
How to Save an Instagram Post Without Taking a Screenshot
An alternative to taking screenshots of posts on Instagram is to use the platform’s bookmarking feature. You can collect individual posts and revisit them later without the person who posted them ever being notified.
To save posts for future reference using this feature:
- Tap the bookmark icon under any post. The post will automatically be saved. If you want to save it to a collection, select an existing one or create a new one.
- Tap your profile picture, tap the hamburger menu at the top-right corner, and go to Saved.
- From there, you can access all your saved pictures and videos.
However, the bookmark will fail if the original post has been deleted. You can only access saved posts if you have an internet connection.
If you want to share the bookmarked post with anyone, they must have the Instagram app since you’ve not saved a screenshot of it on your device.
While bookmarking a video or photo takes time, taking a screenshot is instant, and you can share it via third-party apps. You also won’t have to worry about a user retracting or deleting the original post.