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WhatsApp has been on a roll in recent months. The Meta-owned instant messaging platform has been consistent in onboarding new features to the app. Now, WhatsApp could be rolling out a new change to prevent users from taking screenshots of others’ profile pictures or DPs.
Well, it depends on how you’d like to take it. You may appreciate it if you care about privacy, or you may not if you don’t prioritize others’ privacy. Regardless of your privacy preferences, you won’t be able to take screenshots of WhatsApp profile pictures anymore.
WhatsApp will slap you a warning if you take a screenshot of someone’s profile picture
As reported by WABetaInfo, the feature—or limitation—is spotted in the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.4.25. Once this beta version makes it to the stable versions, you won’t be able to save others’ profile pictures, at least not by taking a screenshot.
After this update rolls out to more users, you won’t be able to take screenshots. Any attempt to take screenshots will prompt one of these messages: “This app doesn’t allow screenshots,” or “Can’t take a screenshot due to app restrictions.”
It’s unclear if WhatsApp will notify users if someone attempts to take a screenshot of their picture. Additionally, it’s not clear if WhatsApp will enable this feature by default or if users will have the option to customize their privacy settings, at least in the beta version.
If you’ve used WhatsApp for a while, you might remember that you could save other people’s profile pictures directly. But they removed that feature about five years ago, probably due to obvious reasons.
Of course, there are other ways to capture the screen and take screenshots. We won’t delve into that. But if you’d rather prevent that, WhatsApp lets you customize who can see your profile picture. Head to WhatsApp’s Settings > Privacy menu for that. You’ll find the option to hide your WhatsApp statuses from contacts, here.
