Key Takeaways
- Facebook Messenger doesn’t notify users when someone takes a screenshot of a regular conversation.
- If you take a screenshot in a secret conversation, Facebook notifies both parties that a screenshot was captured in the chat.
- You can’t prevent people from capturing screenshots in Messenger chats.
If you want to take a screenshot of a Facebook Messenger conversation, you may be worried about the other party being notified. Or maybe you want to know if you’ll be notified when someone screenshots your conversations. The answer to both of these questions is straightforward—with one exception.
Does Messenger Alert When Someone Takes a Screenshot?
No, Facebook Messenger doesn’t alert the other party (or parties) when you take a screenshot or make a screen recording of a conversation. However, the app will let the user know if you screenshot a “secret conversation.”
In a secret conversation, Messenger encrypts your messages and calls as soon as you send them. The contents are only decrypted on the receiver’s phone. This ensures no one can access your chat contents—not even Meta—without physical access to you or your recipient’s phone.
To start a secret conversation, open the menu inside an existing conversation and select “Go to Secret Conversation.”
How to Check When Someone Screenshots Your Secret Chats
To find out if someone has screenshotted your secret conversation, first launch Facebook Messenger on your phone and go to the secret chat.
If either party has captured a screenshot, you’ll see a message about it. In the following screenshot, you can see that a user has captured a screenshot in the conversation.
Each time someone takes a screenshot in these secret chats, Messenger notifies all the parties about it.
Can You Prevent Screenshots in Your Messenger Chats?
No, you can’t prevent people from taking screenshots in your Messenger chats. However, you can find out if someone has taken a screenshot of a secret chat as described above. So, you don’t have to worry about others taking screenshots without your knowledge, but that also applies if you are trying to stealthily take screenshots yourself.
