As an iMessage user, you may wish to know whether iMessage notifies you when someone saves a photo you sent on the platform. This is especially important if the photo is private, sensitive, or explicit. Or, you may want to know whether the other person could find out if you saved a photo that they sent you on iMessage. Before delving into answers to these questions, we need to first understand Apple’s stance on the content you share on iMessage and the protection they offer around it, if any. Below are excerpts from Apple’s terms of use around iMessage and the Apple service in general.
Information you share may be visible to other users, and can be read, collected, or used by them. You should not use Apple services to post any materials that you do not have permission, right, or license to use, or to infringe on the rights of any third party You should not post objectionable, offensive, unlawful, deceptive, inaccurate, or harmful content You should not post personal, private, or confidential information belonging to others
From these terms, you can see that iMessage has no privacy protection around users collecting and using the content that you share on the app. Users are only warned not to post personal and confidential information belonging to others. With this understanding, it’s easier to appreciate the answers we will give to all the questions you may have around getting notified when someone saves a photo on iMessage.
Does iMessage Notify When You Save A Photo
No, iMessage doesn’t notify when you save a photo that someone else sends. As soon as you click the save button, nothing happens, they will be completely unaware. iMessage doesn’t notify when you listen to someone’s audio, but not when you save a picture.
Can You See When Someone Saves A Photo on iMessage?
No, there is no way to find out if someone saves a photo you shared on iMessage. On most dating sites, the dating app is not linked to your phone storage in a way that you can directly save photos and videos from the site to your phone or desktop. So, users usually resort to taking screenshots. On iMessage, however, a user can save photos you share directly into their device without needing to take a screenshot. And given the fact that iMessage does not notify screenshots, you may want to know if iMessage notifies when someone saves a photo you shared on the platform. You need to understand that application owners add privacy and user protection features based on their privacy policies and terms of use. For example, because Badoo knows that its site is mostly used for hookups rather than dating, it prevents users from screenshotting conversations and profiles. Because Grindr, Scruff, and Blued are designed specifically for certain sexual inclinations, they prevent screenshotting certain parts of the app in order to protect the users’ privacy. Snapchat is often used to share adult content, so users get notifications when someone takes a screenshot of their content…they even get to see who exactly did it. An app like Hinge is designed to help users find real love, or at least genuine dating connections, so Hinge does not see the need to implement user content protection like the ones above. You may get the picture by now.
iMessage see no need to protect user content on the app because it is basically used for instant messaging between contacts. Therefore, iMessage does not have a feature to notify you when someone saves a photo you shared on the app.
The only user content privacy-related features you can find for now on Apple are: Screenshot Notification on Facetime: When someone takes a screenshot of you during a Facetime call, you will be alerted. But even that is flawed because if the person uses the screen recording feature instead (which actually makes more sense for a Facetime call), you will not be alerted. Message Deletion: If you are worried about a photo or message you sent on iMessage, the platform has an Unsend feature that allows you to delete the message for both sides. To unsend a photo or message, you simply need to:
- Long press the photo or text that you want unsend
- Tap on Undo Send
- The photo or text will delete for both sides
- However, there will be a notification to both sides saying that a message was unsent
Kept in Voice Message
The Kept feature in voice messages is supposed to let you know that the person saved the voice message you sent them. However, if a user sets the voice messages to never delete, you will still see Kept under the voice message, even though they did not manually save the voice message. In summary:
There is no rule against saving photos on iMessage. Apple clearly states that the content you share can be captured and used by people who have access to it. You do not get notified when someone saves a photo on iMessage. Unlike voice messages that have the Kept feature, photos has no indication for what the other person has done with them
If I Save a Photo on iMessage, Will They Know
No, people will not know when you save a photo they sent on iMessage. So, you are free to save any shared media that you want to keep without being found out. If you want to save a photo sent to you on iMessage, you may be worried that the person may find out that you saved the photo. You may worry that, just as with the Kept feature for voice messages, there may be a way for the person to tell when you save the photo they sent to your gallery. However, just as you are unable to tell when someone saves your photo on iMessage, they are also unable to tell when you save their photo on iMessage. There were rumours that the latest iPhone models received upgrades that enable users to monitor things like saved photos and forwarded messages. However, none of it is true. Apple clearly states that you have the right to collect information shared with you on iMessage, and introducing a feature to monitor saved photos would be a breach of this policy. So, until the policy is revised – and Apple stated that their policies are constantly being revised – until then, you are free to save photos on iMessage without the other person knowing about it.
How to Know If Someone Saves A Photo iMessage
Having explained all the facts above about photos on iMessage, you may still want to know whether there’s a way to find out when someone saves a photo on the app. For example, you may wonder if there’s a third-party app that monitors the media you share on iMessage, or if there’s a hidden privacy setting on your Apple device that can reveal when your photo is saved by the other person. However, as at the time of writing this article, there is no feature on Apple devices that reveal when a photo has been saved on iMessage, and there is no third-party app that integrates to iMessage to provide this feature either. To find out, you would have to make an educated guess especially in any of the scenarios given below:
1. If It’s an Explicit Picture and You Guys Are Seeing Each Other, Chances Are They Will Save the Photo
To be fair, there are two sides to this, and it often depends on the other person, really. But, more than 80% of the time, if you send someone an explicit picture and you are in some form of relationship with each other, it is very likely that they would save the picture. On such occasions, they would likely save it in a private collection that’s not accessible to third parties. The danger, of course, is that if things go south between you two, they may be vengeful enough to publish or at least share the photo locally. This is why, in any case, it is best to take extra care with whom you share content on iMessage. But, like we said, there are two sides to this. If the person has genuine concerns about the content getting into the wrong hands, they may actually delete it after having a look. So, you’re often left with the option of just asking them if they saved the photo, and maybe request that they don’t.
2. If They Post the Picture Somewhere
Another way to know if they saved the photo on iMessage is well, what you dreaded: if they post the picture somewhere or share it with other people locally and you find out. IMessage content (chats and photos) is one of the most shared media on the internet. People constantly share iMessage conversations containing photos and text on the internet to prove a point, ridicule the person, report abuse, or whatever other reason. With this knowledge, iMessage users now know to at least edit out any parts of a photo that may reveal their identity. So, if you must share photos that are private, be ensure that they do not contain parts you’re not comfortable having public.
3. If It’s A Group Photo That Contains Them
On a lighter note, if the photo is a group photo that contains them, then it’s very likely that they would want to keep the photo. And that’s okay. After all, they’re in it, too. IMessage is popular among couples, students, colleagues, families, comrades, and suchlike for sharing groupies. And everyone would likely want to keep these memories. So, if you have shared a group photo that contains the person, you are almost certain that they will save it.
4. If They React to the Picture
Finally, another indication that the person will save the photo you shared with them on iMessage is if they react to the photo. The merrier or more excited the reaction, the more likely they will have it saved. This is because, by simple psychology, we tend to keep things that elicit positive emotions out of us so we could go back to them at a later date or share them with others if applicable. So, if you send a photo on iMessage and the recipient gives one form of animated response or the other, it is likely that they will save the photo on their device.
Does iMessage Notify If You Copy a Message?
IMessage does not notify if you copy a message. That would be downright creepy and a serious infringement of user privacy. It is one thing to notify forwarding a message – and this is a huge security feature that is only enabled by special license which Apple does not implement at the moment. Monitoring and notifying when you copy a message would be a serious crime because of the level of device monitoring that would be required to make it work. As at the time of writing this message, and hopefully for all time, there is no way for iMessage to detect and notify when you copy a message.
