Notification of or detecting screenshot being taken?

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+4 Q:

Notification of or detecting screenshot being taken?

Is there a notification or other mechanism of being informed that the user is taking a screenshot with the home/power buttons?

I've seen threads about wanting to disable the taking of screenshots, but that's not what I'm looking to do.

I have a photographer client who's concerned that his works will be copied by means of users taking screenshots and I thought that if there was an opportunity to put a watermark across the image before the screenshot was taken, that would allay his fears.

+2 A:

The PictureWasTakenNotification Darwin notification will be sent when the user takes a screenshot. However, this is sent after the screenshot is taken.

(No notifications will be sent before the screenshot was taken.)

KennyTM 2010-01-23 04:29:19

Docs for Darwin Notifications: http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/DOCUMENTATION/Darwin/Conceptual/MacOSXNotifcationOv/DarwinNotificationConcepts/DarwinNotificationConcepts.html

Dimitris 2010-01-24 01:50:17

Neither that notification nor CameraImageFullSizeImageReadyNotification seems to be in the iPhone SDK.Regardless, as you point out, it's not ideal for me that it gets fired off after the screenshot is taken (as both notifications are)

God of Biscuits 2010-01-24 22:57:19

Just for reference, this functionality has been lost since iOS 4.0.

Alexander Kellett 2010-06-14 15:03:01

Here's a way which might work, although it will totally go against user interface guidelines I'm sure. If you force the user to have their finger on the screen for the image to show then I don't think they can create screenshots. Because as soon as you press the home+lock keys to actually take the screenshot, the screen seems to behave as if there are no fingers touching it. Try taking a screenshot while moving between home screens to see what I mean.

Not a perfect solution by any means but you may be able to work it into your app design if you're really clever without it detracting too much from the user experience (a tough challenge though!). Nevertheless, I believe this may allow you to display artwork/photos without allowing users to take screenshots.

Griffo 2010-01-26 23:37:48

I thought of this and tried it with iphone.appleinsider.com, whose bizarre interface shows UI chrome when you're NOT touching the screen. While holding down a finger on the screen (so the Webview was tracking the touch) I took a screenshot, and you're right, the screenshot took the shot as if the app was not tracking a touch.Still, I strongly believe that interfering with the OS Feature is tantamount to disabling it. But I suppose I should report back to my client about it.

God of Biscuits 2010-01-27 18:20:42

Thank you, by the way.

God of Biscuits 2010-01-27 18:21:17

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Notification of or detecting screenshot being taken?

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