Signal said today that it is updating its Windows app to prevent the system from capturing screenshots, thereby protecting the content that is on display.
The company said that this new “screen security” setting is enabled by default on Windows 11. Signal said that this new feature is designed to protect users’ privacy from Microsoft’s Recall feature, which was announced last year. Recall captures screenshots of the system continuously to remember all of your activities, so you can scroll back in time to remember what you were looking at.
While the company paused the rollout of the feature last year after backlash, Microsoft started testing it again in April through the Windows Preview Channel. Microsoft has made the feature opt-in and has also added a way to pause it anytime. Signal said that despite these changes, the feature still captures content that may be sensitive.
Signal said that when you are trying to take a screenshot with the new screen security setting enabled, you will just get a blank screen.
The company also warned that when the setting is enabled, some functions, such as screen readers, might not work as intended. You can turn off the setting through Signal Settings > Privacy > Screen security.
The app will show you a warning when you are trying to disable this option, and you will have to click on Confirm to complete the action. This is to prevent you from accidentally turning the feature off while trying to adjust other settings.
“We hope that the AI teams building systems like Recall will think through these implications more carefully in the future. Apps like Signal shouldn’t have to implement a “one weird trick” in order to maintain the privacy and integrity of their services without proper developer tools,” Signal said in a blog post.
