- WhatsApp blocks screenshots from the app
Not every WhatsApp update comes with an announcement and a corresponding download. On the contrary, most are added to the app gradually - and rarely simultaneously for all users. Once a new feature spreads, many are surprised. The latest development from the developers concerns the screenshot function on iPhones. Normally, you can capture any app area with a specific key combination and save it. But that's no longer possible with profile pictures - with some exceptions.
The change has been available on Android smartphones for some time, and now it's also on the iPhone. We can't track exactly when. If you want to save someone else's profile picture, the app will save an image to your photo gallery, but it won't show the desired screen content, instead displaying a warning. On a black background, it says: "Screenshot blocked - To protect the privacy of all persons on WhatsApp, this screenshot has been blocked."
WhatsApp blocks screenshots of profile pictures - to a certain extent. Even supposedly clever workarounds don't work. For example, if you start a video recording of the screen content and call up the desired profile picture in WhatsApp to save an image from the video later, WhatsApp will still prevent you from doing so. As soon as the other person's profile picture appears in full resolution, the app immediately displays the aforementioned warning and refuses to display it.
Apparently, WhatsApp was not consistent enough in implementing the current block. If you go to a contact's profile page and click on "Contact details", you can call up the image in the following menu and take a screenshot without any block. It's only a matter of time before WhatsApp improves this.
You can still take a screenshot of the entire profile page of the respective contact. This can be enlarged and cropped using the camera app on your smartphone, so you'll have a lower resolution, but you can still save the other person's profile picture. WhatsApp can't prevent someone from taking a real photo of the other device's screen with a second smartphone. At least: Such "screenshots" usually look pretty bad.
The reason for the block is unclear. If you use WhatsApp on your computer, you are currently completely exempt from the block. With the respective desktop app or the web-based browser version of the messenger, you can save the profile pictures in the highest possible resolution as usual. It's probably not technically possible to build such a block here.
According to the warning, WhatsApp is apparently concerned about quickly protecting against saving other people's images - even though you should be aware that at least all contacts have full access to a profile picture. What triggered the introduction of the block is not known. The theft of profile pictures hasn't really been a big problem so far, as you can restrict access to the images to the contacts who are supposed to see them. Whether the other party saves it or not shouldn't be a problem in your circle of acquaintances.
- Despite the recent change that prevents screenshotting profile pictures directly on WhatsApp for iPhones, you can still take a screenshot of the entire profile page using the camera app on your smartphone.
- When using WhatsApp on your computer or through the web-based browser version of the messenger, you can save profile pictures in the highest possible resolution without any block, which isn't possible on smartphone versions of the app.
