A first for iOS devices: Snapchat users beware
Potential privacy risk in app on iOS 11 can allow recording of Snapchat without notification
Originally published by Kyle on medium.com, original story link.
Apple’s new mobile operating system update, iOS 11, has introduced an iPhone feature that has unsettling ramifications for users of the popular app, Snapchat.
Snapchat allows users to send “snaps” — short videos or photos— to other app users, which are only available to be viewed for a set amount of seconds determined by the sender and can only be replayed a limited number of times before being deleted. If a user were to “screenshot” an image or video, the app normally notifies the sending user (or group if a group-chat) that such an action — which is generally considered poor etiquette within the app’s user base — has taken place. This transient nature has been key to the app’s success with its key demographic, young adults aged 18 to 24, since its founding in 2011 by three Sanford University undergraduates.
Previously, the only way on iOS¹ to capture a snap was through screenshotting the message/image. Users of the app have discovered that the newly introduced screen-recording feature can potentially allow users to record Snapchat content without notifying the user that sent it. The inability of users to record “Snaps” with a notification being sent to the other party has been a feature which many of its 150+ million users have taken for granted.