Imagine my surprise when I tried to take a screenshot on Apple Vision Pro of how cool it was to watch Apple TV while chopping vegetables, only to find that Franklin had been replaced by a black box.

Things like this are why physical media + open video formats and players will always be a superior choice to streaming apps.

If that's a deal breaker, then what phone would you buy? Every Android phone supports FLAG_SECURE (which is such an Orwellian name), and iOS has its own equivalent API: https://github.com/JayantBadlani/ScreenShield

Well, the phone should keep my own needs above everything else, and no app maker should hamstring me on MY OWN phone. Somehow I have the feeling certain phone makers are sitting on the horse backwards.

I agree with you. I don't want app developers to stop me from being able to screenshot whatever I want on my own phone. I just don't know what to do about it.

Switch to GNU/Linux phones. Works for me.

There are too many apps tied to some real-world thing that only support iOS and Android. Consider banking apps for mobile check deposit, or apps that let you remote start your car. And even if you were willing to go without those conveniences, consider the SeatGeek app. I've been to shows where the only way to get tickets was with that app - there was no paper option and no Web option. And even though emulators like Waydroid exist, a lot of those kinds of apps implement things like SafetyNet or Play Integrity, basically to intentionally refuse to work in any environment not officially blessed by Google.

These are just more reasons to start acting before you lost any control over all your computing.

Well, if you're willing to do that, you could just say "don't use such apps then"... which isn't helpful if it's for your bank, or your government...

Most apps work with Waydroid. If somebody forces you into the duopoly, you should start complaining and switch banks...

> Most apps work with Waydroid

Does that include any of the apps that block screenshots? If not, this again becomes a more complex version of "don't use such apps".

I never tried them so can't tell.

Where do I complain about the EU regulation that caused the banks to implement this requirement? Should I switch continents?

How about https://edri.org?

I find all this screenshot blocking stuff stupid. You can just point another phone or camera at the screen to grab a "screenshot" anyway. It's just security fluff, and ultimately just degrades the user experience.

It's a general Android feature that I believe is meant to be used to make exfil of sensitive data harder.

It's an Android API, not specific to this phone.

Go try to take a screen shot of Netflix.

That's a non issue... on a PC :D.

That's because Netflix hasn't forced Microsoft, Google and Apple to enable these blocks on their OSes and browsers...for now.

They absolutely have, Windows, Android and Apples platforms all have the concept of "secure" framebuffers which appear as black rectangles if you attempt to screenshot or record them. Netflix and similar will only serve you high res video if your system supports that protection amongst others, otherwise they'll restrict you to something like 720p.

I think Chrome gives back black screens if you try to do so.

If you use the built-in Windows screenshot (print screen) it just copies a black frame to the clipboard. It's trivial to bypass with e.g. ShareX (I don't know if Snipping Tool suffices).

EDIT: Ah missed the comment below which explains that already.

Yeah but Netflix won't serve you 4k on a PC unless you use Edge (not even chrome iirc) or their windows app. Screenshot those and you'll get black rectangles.