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Tell HN: iPhone mirroring on iOS/macOS breaks screenshot protection on all apps

I appreciate that this is somewhat obvious on reflection, but I am surprised that no one is talking about it given that it breaks security/privacy flows for major apps (obviously a photo of the screen was always a risk)

This is always a very interesting topic for me. On one hand, I would like apps to be able to enforce rules like “no screenshots” or at a minimum “screenshot detection”. On the other hand, I want my phone to do what I ask you to do and not be forced to follow arbitrary rules.

Example: I don’t want someone to screenshot my Snapchat message but I don’t want my bank to prevent me from screenshotting the app because of “security” (aka security theater).

I don’t know how you make those two concepts work together.

One random thought that I just had is that when an app uses DRM it just show a black screen when you screenshot. I wonder if could implement that for things like Snapchat to get the same protections.

a day agojoshstrange

When I tested, you can also screenshot disney+, netflix etc. so DRM is also broken by it!

15 hours agomintone

Hi, which app did you see this on? WhatsApp is a big one that comes to mind.

2 days agoimpish9208

WhatsApp was the one I tested it on

2 days agomintone

Couldn't you already do that with a USB-C HDMI cable? Stream the screen and record it.

a day agoerkkonet
[deleted]
2 days ago

It makes apps like Snapchat, Telegram and other apps that detect and prevent / block screenshots useless now.

I heard that Apple knows about this issue (via Feedback Assistant) and their development team said they won’t fix it.