Instagram recently updated its app with a bunch of new features, including live video, and disappearing photos and videos. Like Instagram Stories, the latter feature was also borrowed from Snapchat and allowed users to share temporary images and videos with friends using Instagram’s direct messaging function.
It seems Instagram just can’t get enough of its rival visual media app, as it’s also gone and borrowed another element from Snapchat.
According to Instagram, it will notify you if someone takes a screenshot of your disappearing visual messages. As any avid Snapchat fan will tell you, that particular function has long been available on the app. This time, however, Instagram’s plagiarism may have been a product of necessity.
Unlike Stories, which can be viewed by your entire network (or even set to public), your disappearing content is generally only meant for the people you choose to send it to. Chances are you probably won’t take kindly to someone taking a screenshot of your temporary content in order to save it to their phone. Consequently, being alerted of a screenshot is essential in this scenario.
Back when Snapchat was viewed as little more than a naughty messaging app, the humble screenshot notification was its way of telling people that it was looking out for their privacy. Therefore, Instagram had to borrow the feature in order to ensure its users felt safe sharing their temporary content on its app.
Unexpectedly, the move ended up causing a bit of a stir when it was first revealed. A number of grief-stricken social media users were under the impression that Instagram would tell you when someone took a screenshot of your public content, reports Business Insider. The error seems to be Instagram’s fault, as its notification doesn’t clarify what was targeted in the screenshot.
https://twitter.com/CommonWhiteGirI/status/801971417722028032
However, that’s not the case. The notification only applies to the disappearing content you send via Instagram Direct. Now that that’s cleared up, you can go back to goofing around on Instagram, and also safely take screenshots of public images — it’s OK, everyone does it.
Discord is trying to push more visibility on the internet for some of its biggest communities, and there's a good chance your messages could end up in a Google Search. The platform is preparing to make conversations from certain public servers searchable on the web, so there's a privacy setting you might want to check before the rollout begins.
According to Discord's official announcement, the changes will roll out in two stages. Starting November 16, qualifying servers will have public web pages featuring automated summaries of conversations. By mid-December, individual messages from eligible public channels could also appear word-for-word in Google and other search engines.
You just opened X and started typing your thoughts. Imagine the jump scare when a hand suddenly pops up on your screen, pointing at the promote button. It doesn’t say a word and simply points. For a growing number of X users, this isn’t a made-up scenario but something they have been seeing since yesterday, and very few of them are amused.
Most of us have learned to tune out the usual in-app upsells, whether it’s a glowing upgrade banner or a pop-up about a premium plan. A floating hand hovering over your draft is much harder to ignore, and that’s probably the whole point.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?