Meta-owned Facebook Messenger was updated with end-to-end encryption for chats and calls, disappearing messages, reactions, replying indications, GIFs and stickers, among several other features, on January 27, 2022.
While E2E was the highlight of the update, another feature that caught the fancy of the masses was screenshot notifications, which is similar to Snapchat’s screenshot notification feature.
One of the most frequently asked questions around and even before this update remains: Does Messenger notify when you screenshot?
How does Messenger Screenshot notification work?
While screenshot notifications have been available in the Vanish mode since it was added to Messenger In 2020, the January 2022 update brings screenshot notifications to disappearing messages in end-to-end encrypted chats.
When using the vanish mode or disappearing mode, chats disappear after a specific time (defined by the user). If someone takes a screenshot of the chat in vanish mode, the user is notified about the screenshot in chat.
The screenshot notification on E2E encrypted chats — out of Vanish mode — work similarly.
While the feature officially started rolling out soon after the announcement last month, during our testing, none of the three phones or accounts received the notification for the screenshot being taken.
If you’re also missing this feature, it is highly possible that the feature isn’t available in your geographic location yet, as these features are gradually rolled out globally. You can expect it to appear for you over the next few weeks.
Other features added to Messenger in the January 2022 update
In addition to the screenshot notifications, here are six other features added to Messenger in the January 27, 2022 update.
End-to-end encryption
In simple terms, end-to-end encryption is a way of keeping your data secure by ensuring that only the people sending and receiving data can access it. It means only the people sending and receiving a message can read it, and nobody in between, including the app makers.
Just like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and other applications, Messenger provided end-to-end encryption for individual chats or direct messages already, and now it also offers end-to-end encryption of group chats and voice and video calls.
GIFs and stickers
GIFs and stickers were not always available on Messenger. The addition of GIFs and stickers to the chats for both the regular and vanish mode makes the entire experience of texting more alive and better. Stickers also provide an option to make your avatar for a more real-life experience.
Reactions and replies
Similar to the Instagram reaction feature, Messenger also provides reactions in the end-to-end encrypted messages. Double-tap on the message to react with the heart emoji on a specific message. If you wish to react with some other emoji, long press the message to access the default reaction emojis with a plus sign (+) to customise your reaction emoji for the message.
Alongside, Messenger also shows typing indicators in the chat when the other person(s) are typing in the chat box. The typing indicator is a set of 3 dots in a slight movement.
With this, an additional feature for replying has also been added. There are two ways to reply to a message:
- Long click on the message you wish to reply, and click on the Reply button in the bottom panel.
- Pull the message, towards the right if you are replying to the other person’s message, or left if you are replying to one of your messages.
When you reply to a message, the message itself gets highlighted along with your reply.
Also read: How to react to messages on Instagram?
Message forward
There are two ways of forwarding a message:
- Long click on the message you wish to reply, and click on the Forward button in the bottom panel.
- For images, there is a share button on the side of the image, which allows you to directly forward the image to someone.
When a message is forwarded to another chat, it is mentioned that the message is forwarded on top of the message.
Save media
There may be times when you want to save an image or video sent by someone in the chat. Messenger allows you to save media directly from the chat to the gallery. Simply long click on the image or video and click on save in the bottom panel.
Video edits
Another great feature added to Messenger is the option to edit photos and videos before sending them in the chat. This allows one to customise and personalise all the media before sending.
With the introduction of end-to-end encryption in individual and group chats, privacy and security are well taken care of now. The vanish mode is an additional new feature, which along with the end-to-end encryption, makes the protection almost foolproof from hackers and other cybercrimes. Meta plans on adding the screenshot notification to Instagram as well soon. The other added features to Messenger overall enhance the texting and calling experience, allowing a personal touch to every message, media and even stickers.
In the news: Google Images updated with ‘Share GIFs’ section.
