IOS 11 still lets people record your Snapchats without alerting you — so watch out

Beware: Your sexts aren’t safe.

Although Apple’s iOS 11 — the new mobile operating system released in advance of the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus — is a fairly small update, there are a few handy features that make it worth the download. Along with new message effects and stopping apps that track your location 24/7, iPhone owners can now record their screens more easily from the Control Center.

Normally, when someone takes a screenshot of your messages on Snapchat, you’ll get a notification. With iOS 11, there’s a workaround.

While testing the iOS 11 developer beta in June, I noticed you could use the new screen-record function to record Snapchat without sending a notification. Photos and videos could be recorded without the person you’re snapping ever finding out.

That was over three months ago. Now it’s September, and Snapchat hasn’t patched the workaround.

Mic’s Tim Mulkerin sent me the below snap. With iOS 11’s screen-record feature, I was able to grab footage of his animated Bitmoji in Snapchat without the app blowing the whistle on me.

Yet there’s no screenshot notification on Tim’s screen.

I sent Tim a video in response. While capturing his screen, he recorded it and, of course, there was no screenshot notification on my end.

Unbeknownst to me, he was able to grab this screen recording.

So, until Snapchat updates with a fix for this issue, watch what you send. Snapchat claims photos and videos are erased after the recipient views them, but now someone could be saving your messages without your knowledge.

It’s also worth noting the media you save in Snapchat’s Memories section are uploaded to the cloud. Consider that when using Snapchat, your photos pass through Google servers, too. Once anything becomes digital, it becomes vulnerable — in other words, it’s able to be copied and shared.

Stay safe, friends.