Bitcoin Forum

I have a friend who likes taking screenshot so much that he would take a screenshot of even payment transactions from banking apps and large or small bet winnings. I don't know if he loved to brag with it, but he won lots of arguments with real traders and sellers who accept transfers and claim to have not received it.

Sometime last week, we were having a chat and he mentioned how he wants to buy BTC and become a trader and HoDLer as he makes profit along the way. He said he had been learning on his own by watching YouTube videos and from his colleagues in the office.
I just knew then that he had already done so, and upon further chat, he already did because he wouldn't really tell me what he's up to until he has done it, that's how I have known him for long. He is still oblivious of my membership here, although I would tell him somewhere on his trading journey.

I am concerned now however about his screenshot taking habit, because it would be more problems for him if his phone falls into wrong hands and they see screenshots of Bitcoin transactions mostly.
He may have provided the information or data needed by the wrong hands or It can be assumed that he has so much and who knows what ills can come from thoughts like that.

* My question is, how safe is it to keep screenshots of Bitcoin/crypto transactions and useful information, on ones device?

* How do I go about letting my friend know about such a habit of taking and keeping screenshots on his device that I have observed and warn him about it, without looking like I sense bad days coming?

As far as I know if your friend takes pictures of Bitcoin logo, Bitcoin's price and other non personal details that cannot be used by anyone to steal his assets, then that's fine. But if your friend takes screenshots of sensitive information such as private keys, recovery phrases, or any account credentials. Then the joke will be on him. These can be targeted by hackers if leaked or shared inadvertently or if an authorized person gets access to his phone.

Well the better educated you are on bitcoin and the crypto space the less silly things you'd do. Privacy and security consciousness always.

It actually depends on the level of privacy you are trying to achieve. if you really want to be private and not draw too much attention, especially if you have large amounts of coins in your wallet, you should avoid sharing your transaction IDs and even your wallet address especially if it's your hodling wallet weather through screen shot or not you can easily copy the transaction id paste it on a block explorer and track transactions with that wallet on the block chain.

No as if they can actually access your coins directly from knowing your transaction id or wallet address but it gives the attacker some info on how much coins you have on that wallet. It's because of this that most people use mixers to kill traces to their hodling wallet.
As for warning your friend, I suggest you just educate him on these dangers and probably he may change.

I wouldn’t consider it too safe to be honest. Especially if your phone isn’t as secure.
Anyone can take your phone, open it and see your gallery. Anyone can also
hack into our system and see the many transcripts or receipts saved as screenshots.

Tell your friend that it’s not about bad days but instead just a precaution if
ever is something to happen. It’s okay to be on the safer side.

If he’s not going to be interacting and making transactions with other people, I don’t really see the purpose of keeping screenshots of bitcoin. I mean all of that is available for the public anyway. Even if he wants to keep screenshots of transactions, I don’t think it would be much of a problem. However, keeping screenshots of your seed phrases would be a huge no. Other than that, I think it’s really up to him if he wants to be discreet or no.

That is completely and unnecessary decision, why would you save screenshot of transactions you sent to traders or seller just to win an agreement when every bank application has a transaction history, you can either send the transaction to them but saving the screenshot on your phone is totally unnecessary.

If he takes the screenshot of his Bitcoin transactions alone there are no information there that would lead to him losing his wallet, his seed phase or even password aren't available there, but the problem is that he can be targeted by criminals who can see how much is transactions are worth. Infact saving screenshot of financial transactions can leave you vulnerable to criminals who can weigh how much is running in your financial safe.

When we're installing a new apps, there must be a pop up that the apps will access this and that, which make us need to accept it, otherwise we can't use the apps. The data they collects are many, one of them are photos and videos. If your friend like to screenshot anything including the sensitive information, I won't be surprised if someday he might lost his coins especially your friends screenshot his wallet seed phrase.

https://imgvb.com/images/2024/03/24/260c22396a82518906baf8bb98be048c.png
https://play.google.com/store/apps/datasafety?id=com.binance.dev

I think there's nothing to worry about those screenshot since other people cannot do anything with those things. The transaction has been done and this is just a screenshot so nothing bad will happen to your friend for saving screenshot of transaction in his phone. What can cause harm if he lose his phone and they store all their bitcoins on the wallet app installed. For sure this might be the reason to lose their balance.



Try to rise up your concern since for sure he/she understand about your point. They don't need to save those screenshot since anytime he or she can get it via history of each transaction he made.

Sometimes, we expose our private information to the public unknown to us, and it can be used against us, when we become the target. Imagine this observation about your friend screen shot of his transactions. His friend that is envious of him can steal his phone or send someone to steal his phone, and whatever information they need, they can easily get it from his phone.

It is not a safe practice. I will say 1% safe. I hope that he does not screen shot his seed phrase.

If he does not listen to you, there is nothing you can do about it. Maybe since he is into bitcoin, you can introduce him to the forum, where he will know that such practice can make him lose his coins to hackers and thieves. Some of us were not taking privacy serious, until we became members on this forum. Maybe he does not understand the level of privacy that he needs as someone who is into bitcoin.

I don't think that screenshots are meant to be kept permanently, if the purpose of making it is achieved then I don't think that there's any need to continue keeping it, it's better to delete it, including other unnecessary images and videos that you're phone has stored. I think that it's ok if you warn your friend against keeping screenshots of transactions and information that are not useful anymore because scammers and hackers are getting more sophisticated everyday. You might lose your phone and you never know your information that might seem irrelevant to you but it might be a clue to criminals who'll want to steal from you.

You never should store your back up on one device because it can be broken technically and you will lose all your backups.

Another risk is that device can be compromised and your backup information can be accessed by hackers.

Store your sensitive information, backup offline and if digitally you must store them on an air gapped device.

For example.

How to Back Up a Seed Phrase (https://blog.lopp.net/how-to-back-up-a-seed-phrase/)

That's why am scared for him, because he may even think he has successfully deleted them and change his device, only for him to log into his cloud and find all those screenshots recovered automatically. If he had forgotten about such important information and hands his device to anyone close or someone who normally has access to his device, it could pose a threat to the success of his trading journey.
Still he may point me to the fact that saving screenshots is the only way he can quickly resolve his disputes and save time.

And what you need to know is whether your friend has mastered cellphone technology, because most people who have personal cellphones will master it well so that what they do can be completed well without anything bad happening if their cellphone is lost.
But there's no harm in giving advice or reminding him for his good, and if he doesn't care just ignore it because it's his cellphone and also his coins. And if something happens that harms your friend, it's none of your business because you advised him first and in my opinion it's very simple and why should you care about people who don't want to listen. And if something negative happens, it will be a lesson for your friend, and he will remember your advice even if it is too late. And it seems like your friend looks arrogant.

Yes he might have taken screenshots of transactions sent or received which to me the danger there is that once someone goes through his phone and finds out he will lose his privacy. If it’s a bad person his holdings will be under attack by the scammer as the scammer will try everything to get access to his bitcoin or other cryptocurrency holdings. He might face attacks like phishing attacks and dust attacks or even offline attacks towards his seed phrase and private key and any mistake from his end the scammer might get to them.

As for seed phrase screenshots it is bad in such a way that many wallets do not even allow taking screenshots of them, so that alone is clear warning that it is bad habit

Why do you need screenshots of crypto transactions while you have transactions history available on your wallet and all the transaction history is recorded in the blockchain. Although transaction screenshots doesn’t give any harm but doing it defeats the purpose of blockchain record which is more reliable than a screenshot that can be edited.


There’s no danger on doing it because it’s a just transaction record which is available publicly on blockchain. Just ignore him if he wants to have that kind of proof of transactions. There’s an exception with this if he is saving his seed phrase on screenshot.

I know some people who make tons of screenshots, including screenshots of financial operations. To be honest, I don't get it, because both with Bitcoin and with online banking you can usually prove that you've made a transaction if you need to prove it at some point. So there's no need for taking a screenshot in advance.
I believe that it's important, in this case, to store screenshots safely (for example, on a device that always stays home or under a special password if possible). Simply having them on the phone can be somewhat unsafe, although if there's no info with passwords there, I don't think much can be done with that info if the phone is stolen.

The transactions themselves can only have an impact on compromising privacy if they fall into the wrong hands - but this is something that can be easily prevented if encryption of all data is used on the device, in this case a smartphone. In addition, every transaction can be seen online at any time, so if you want to brag to someone, you don't necessarily need to save a screenshot - you can always make it, send it to someone and then delete it.


You can simply warn him that it is a bad practice that has some risks, and beyond that, nothing else makes sense. If something bad happens, you did your part because you warned him, and if nothing bad happens, everyone is happy and satisfied.

• You can save txids if you want to keep record of transactions, you don't need screenshots of the transaction.
No other sensitive or useful crypo information should be stored electronically. You should have a written back up.

• Inform you friend that security consciousness is of the utmost importance when you're your own bank with Bitcoin. This does not mean you're expecting bad days, but you're keeping your assets safe.

Each of us carries a phone with us, but at any moment this device can be lost or stolen. Therefore, as a matter of prudence, you should not store any information on your phone that could be used against you. Even locking your phone with a password or fingerprint sensor may not be a panacea (If wish and have the skills, can access the phone memory).

I see the following danger when the phone falls into the wrong hands if there are "screenshots of Bitcoin/crypto transactions and useful information".  Based on transactions, it is easy to identify the contents of wallets, and the phone with a specific person, contacts and lifestyle. By comparing all this, can easily find a specific person if the wallet balance is tempting. Therefore, it is safer not to store this kind of information on your phone. What prevents your friend from saving all this on his PC if it is very important to him (For example, with an encrypted OS like Linux)?

Tell him the 2nd paragraph from my post.

There is no harm in taking screenshots of transactions as long as that info is not exposed to second person. It's best practise to hide how much you have invested in Bitcoin. These screenshots can help someone in reconnaissance phase to find out a potential target. Lesser is your digital crypto footprint, better it is.
Just make sure that your wallet seed or information used to access wallets is not stored digitally otherwise you can lose custody of your coins.

You won't be able to take screenshots of such sensitive data. Have you tried it before mate? When you take a screenshot of sensitive data on your device, wallets apps and some apps employ security measures to prevent the capture of that data. Sometimes the screenshot gives an error message or if taken returns a blank display on your screen, protecting sensitive informations from being captured.


Taking screenshots of transaction info might lead you into more trouble in cases like kidnapping or robbery. When you are forced to open your device and then they find so much screenshots of transaction containing huge amounts. You will be forced to transfer and be held by such persons. We should all be mindful of all data stored on our devices as you may expose yourself to threats and even more danger. We don't pray for unfortunate events but we have to be prepared for any time. Advice your friend to stop be naughty.

Yes mate I have. In fact, I just did. I took a screenshot on Binance and I did not get any error message. There are just certain activities that triggers the app to limit taking screenshots. You can try it. Even when you use your laptop computer you can also screen grab.

I think it's a good idea to keep some form of documentation of our bitcoin transaction. Taking screenshots is very easy and quickly, we never know when those screenshots might come in handy. More and more countries are adopting new crypto regulations that include proofs where our crypto coins come from. Having a screenshot might not be the optimal form to document our crypto transaction, because they can be faked. But it's at least a start and we can keep track of the date of transactions even after switching wallets. As for your security concern, I understand that it can be a big problem if the wrong people get their hands on our phone. However, from the screenshots alone they won't get any access to our wallets as long as we didn't store our keys on phone as well. I think the best is to have a well secured phone, so in the case of our phone being stolen the thieves won't have access to our photos and documents. Being able to instantly lock our phone after a theft is important.

I didn't say binance as binance is a centralized exchange and thus have control of your private keys. You aren't given any keys to keep on your exchange account except password to login. Its different from what I'm trying to say here. If you want to see what I'm trying to say, you can download any mobile wallet from their store and test using a new wallet then try screenshooting your keys to see if it works.

It's not a problem if someone sees his Bitcoin transactions from screenshots because the blockchain is an open book of transactions and absolutely every transaction is recorded there. Just type your Bitcoin address on any Bitcoin block explorer and you'll see a whole record of your transactions.
In overall, you shouldn't keep sensitive information in a screenshot format because smartphones are not the most secure devices. When you also save something, be sure to have a backup of it stored somewhere safely. To make him sure that this is the correct step, you can show him evidences of what happens when someone doesn't take security seriously, internet is full of such accidents.

I can attest to the fact that taking screenshots of seed phrases on some wallets won't work. It would either have to be crammed or written down.

How about suggesting to this my friend to save his screenshot should he still do such, in a private folder and lock it up occasionally. That is supposing he would even have the time to sit and do that work because he really is one of those busy persons that hardly sit idle.

Most decentralized wallets restrict taking screenshots of applications. This is to prevent the saving of sensitive information that can be exploited by third parties. I don't think centralised platforms like Binance have such security checks in place

Private folders are still prone to hacks or phishing attacks. It is totally risky to store any sensitive information on any mobile or online device because it can be stolen. I suggest you search for real-life experiences of people who have lost money due to this habit and show it to your friend. He might be able to learn better from personal experiences. If he is too busy to learn he should be prepared to pay the price of losing his funds. Some people who claim to be too busy to learn usually have enough time to search for solutions when they have problems.

I mean Bitcoin transaction, as long as these screenshots don't have some kind of sensitive information that could be a key to accessing your account, I think it is still going to be fine, even though I wouldn't really say that it is safe. Bitcoin transactions are something like a reference number of the transactions something like that, in my opinion, would make a huge problem even though people get access to it, I mean it was all public data that anyone can see and access, like Bitcoin address or something like that, I mean it is all record in the blockchain every transaction that is happening its public, so if a hacker could hack with just that information then his going to be a trillionaire already.

For the most part, if you doesnt know, most of the application that is installed on your phone can easily access your files and photos as soon as you allow it to access it, most of the social media platforms are able to do it as long as you allowed it to, but most of us are just not aware of how dangerous it could be, most of the applications for sure are collecting our data that they could use in order to sell or advertise something like that.

I would say that its not good practice doing this screenshot stuff, and i wouldn't say that it is really dangerous, your probably going to be fine doing it, but for the most part it is all ready better to be safe than regret it in the end.

Well,as for me,so long as you've clearly understand and studied privacy consciousness,some ignorant attitudes to your personal data and information should be handled and preserved with appropriate caution and safety without been told by anyone.Someone who's been vast in knowledge about one's security and privacy shouldn't be caught screenshoting sensitive informations like his or her bitcoin transaction,bitcoin wallets,keys,holdings and all other bitcoin activities.

At least we should learn from the origin of bitcoin that is bitcoin promotes anonymity and every user of bitcoin should normalize the act of ensuring that his/her privacy and personal information is thoroughly intact and secured without any failures.

I Think It's a wise decision to take screenshots of your Bitcoin or banking transaction but caution is very important to avoid any security concern. However, it is very important to save your transaction record but security privacy is very crucial to save your digital assets securely in your device. Taking Screenshots is easy but if a screenshot includes key sensitive information about private keys or recovery phrases then it will be very dangerous. That is why your friend needs to learn about the security concerns of Bitcoin and how to secure their wallet is very useful for him. I also think storing screenshots securely on a password lock device or mobile adds additional protection for any type of unauthorized access.

I don't see anything wrong in taking screenshots as long as he isn't doing that with sensitive data such as passwords, seed phrases, phone numbers, private keys, and other important stuff that one can use to access his accounts or funds in case his phone gets lost or stolen or gets in the hands of a person who could do something like that. Taking screenshots of the transactions isn't a bad thing because sometimes you might need in future for a certain transaction you did, this is mostly required when you are doing P2P trades online.

There are a lot of scammers in P2P marketplaces who would initiate trades with you, take your money, and then open disputes and stuff to get their funds back to their account while they have already taken payment from you. In such situations, you need payment screenshots that you can send to the support team to back your case.

The results of the screenshot will be stored on the device used. If the device used by a smartphone (iOS or Android), the results of the screenshot will be stored there. If the device used by the desktop (Windows, MacOS, etc.), the results will be stored there. We never know what will happen to the device someday.

Smartphones, synonymous with online every time because almost all our smartphones use SIM cards (internet data) and have never been interrupted internet connection as long as we are still active. When something happens to our smartphone (not impossible), it does not rule out the possibility of screenshots that we do can be sabotage.

Better there is a separation between online activities and offline activities that we do.
I always try to separate in two lives.

Anything that contains any serious information, we have to be careful because anything that is even connected to the internet, your phone can be hacked and that information can be open to space. if some people have not fallen victim to something, they do not know how it feels, and they don't take things seriously. The best thing should be that if you are keeping any information, make sure you are keeping it offline. and I don't even see the reason why I will keep my Bitcoin transaction screenshot in the first place. And if anyone should even see it, it is a risk on its own. The last time I checked, a lot of investors were trying to hide their identities and I don't blame them, mostly for security reasons. and from the beginning, people loved privacy, which is why a lot of people have even given much trust to investing in Bitcoin.

I've done that in the past and I've read from different people that it's not safe at all if that's going to include his seeds or private keys. You're right about what if his device falls into the wrong hands and new it that he's doing something like this.

He's going to regret that but upon giving him some reminders, you've done your part already. You have to do what you have to do and if he doesn't listen to you, you have no obligations to him about that because you've already told him that it happened to some people that they're not expecting it to happen. You're not thinking him to any ill intentions but just concerned about what he does.

Hmm, OP pretty good work. I really appreciate you. 
 
OP Your friend is making a big mistake. This is a minor thing but it can cause you to lose your funds. You should explain to him and let him know that this can be a loss for you
 
In general, people looked at the verified transaction screenshot from an unusual point of view, wondering what would happen to this transaction, and so on. but this is based on a very disadvantage. 
 
In this context, I tell you about the real incident of which I am a witness. Like OP's friend, this YouTuber (https://youtube.com/@learnfastearn?si=OFAPYfmhGpQxAjSO) had taken screenshots of his assets and used them to save them on the device. He also took a screen shot of the seed phrase or password on his device. Hackers hacked Wallet by collecting all screenshots. Sometimes Gmail automatically syncs your data and the same thing happened with him, The hacker grabbed the phrase and password from the sync data and the YouTuber lost millions of dollars. 
 
So IMH is also the same: you should not take screenshots from the device because it can cause you to lose them. The hacker is looking for such people who will have big assets so that they can be looted by making them victims of theft. So be careful Guys.

Sometimes leaving any clue on your phone that you are involved in Bitcoin transactions can put you at risk especially if you are someone that permits friends and family to use your phone. The gallery is one of the places people will always check on your phone when they have any opportunity to use it, and when they are evidence of these sort of transactions, they can become convinced that there is really something to steal from you.

If they are not the type that can plan to steal from you, they will have more confidence to ask you for financial assistance more regularly because they are convinced that you can provide for them from the evidence of the kind of transactions you make regularly from screenshots. If they regularly ask you for assistance and you are the type that finds it difficult to refuse and turn down people, it can greatly affect your ability to DCA properly and even hodl well the investments that you already have.

You have to sort of the case - I mean screenshot of bitcoin transaction are fine to save, but personal information ^{[sensitive data]} should be hidden. I also have some screenshot of bitcoin transaction - but did not screenshot any personal information ^{[in this case like passwords, seeds or others].} Sometimes screenshot are needed to prove something - for example when you send your friend unconfirmed bitcoin even though you can include the transaction tx.

You can discuss with your friends about risks - avoiding problems and how to minimize problems. Not everything involving financial transactions requires screenshots - but everyone has their own reasons for doing so. The risk tolerance of each Bitcoin user is different - so you don't need to force your will if your friend refuses.

he doesn't even need to be the one to leak the the screenshots... As Long as he's using a smart phone, it could update and save up pictures, videos and screenshots and other important documents to the cloud... that makes it easily hackable.

---

dude was acting like he'll freeze up should he ever tell his guy about the risk involved...  ;D
In that case, if he refuses, then whatever happens on the long run would serve as a deterrent... But there isn't much difference with showing up your local bank details and your seed phrase -- which should ring in his ears already.

Sandra 🧑‍🦰

Well as long as his seed phrase isn't saved or is properly encrypted and SCs only included details, then I don't think it's that much of an issue. I myself do it sometimes after all. Now for the issue of others knowing and him losing his privacy, it depends on what type of SC's he saves. The most I'd assume is just transaction details (without the private details included) but if there is some part to it like that that he saves, yeah it isn't really safe then. In those cases, you can try telling him to separate the two types? Like moving images with private details towards a PC and encrypting it (or in the phone as well if needed). A lot more work but hey, a lot safer as well than just leaving them be.

You can try sending him some YT videos that talk about privacy issues. I mean he learned Bitcoin through it so I reckon it's something he'd watch and learn properly from.  

I used to take pictures when using ATM withdrawals from home. We have ATMs that allow you to make an account with the operator and send coins to the ATM from home, then go to the ATM and withdraw, but the system shows you an address and you never get any confirmation of that address, until the transaction is confirmed, so in case something went wrong and the system showed you a wrong address or did not send you a confirmation message, you might need to prove to the support that you sent it to the right address and it's the fault of the software. I don;t hold these for more than a day though.
I feel like holding screenshots of bitcoin payments is safe as long as there's no passwords or seeds visible.

Sometimes when I'm buying a coin, I do take screenshots of the crypto transactions and encrypt it but not to brag about it to my peers rather to remind myself of the amount of money I invested in the coins, incase it's worth a fortune tomorrow. So I think that could be the reason why you friend takes screenshots.

No one can steal your funds by mere looking at the screenshot of your transactions, your seed phrase is required. Also, your device should be password protected to restrict unauthorized access and if paraventure it gets stolen, the thief would need to format the device to have access and this means all the pictures and other important info would be lost too.

Well, since you care so much about his privacy, you can advise him to encrypt the images after taking screenshots.

It will depend on what it is on the screenshot and how he stores it, if he is only taking a screenshot of his bitcoin transactions, the only thing that reveals is the addresses he probably owns and the amount there, which is sensitive information without a doubt, but that by itself will not cause him to lose his coins, so as long as those screenshots were kept in a safe device then I think the practice can be harmless, but if he keeps those screenshots on a device he uses daily or if in the picture there is important information like seed words, private keys or passwords then you need to talk to him before he loses his coins.

If you're not going out there and posting it publicly, it's rather safe and secure. One thing that you must take note of is that nowadays, phones are fucking secure, and mobile wallets are as well, as long as you don't go out of your own way to make mistakes you shouldn't and lose your access, sending screenshots and transaction receipts included.

Taking screenshots as references for your payments is a must if I you'll ask me, it allows you to keep a good record of transactions you have made and most especially in the crypto scene since sometimes transaction hashes just wouldn't cut it, and as I said earlier, as long as you don't go out of your own way to let people who don't have any business with your transactions get a hold of these information, you should be good to go.

If he's using an iPhone, even more secure, most IOS devices right now are literally uncrackable especially if they use devices that are newest versions. So all the more reasons for you to really put yourself at ease cause your friend's secured.

As you know, all transactions are public and don't contain any private data like private keys or real world identity. So just knowing about transactions will not cause big problems on its own. And also the phone is supposed to only be accessible to the owner, so if someone else has access - be it physical or through malware, they could do a lot more harm than just finding screenshots of Bitcoin transactions. Just inform you friend to not take screenshots of private keys and seed and he should be fine.

You nailed it right. It’s never a problem if he takes pictures on his current and previous transactions with bitcoin. As long as the private keys and passwords are kept not in his device, then it remains safe. However, he should still be advised to refrain from doing so as he might end up screenshot the most sensitive information that only him should know. And as much as possible, he should be more exposed to the security procedures about bitcoin so that he can safeguard his investment 24/7 offline or online.

Well, for me, there's nothing wrong with taking screen shots of your transactions in crypto currency, whether that's a trade or buying assets, because for me, it can be a reference or future reference when sometimes you don't know where your money goes. But of course, it's up to you on how you will keepthose informations safe. Either put them on a device where you're the only one that can access them or know where they are, because that's what I do. I have a separate device where I do all my crypto currency stuff, trade, buy assets through DCA, airdrops, etc. And I only leave it in my house where there's a safe, and I am the only one who knows where it is—kind of too OA? I think not because that device is like a holy grail where I could lose a lot of money, and I have to do those precautions.

For security you can take screenshots of your transactions and you can take screenshots of your important information and store them in a safe place. You can definitely take screenshots of transactions or anything important in your Bitcoin wallet if you can save those screenshots properly. The screenshot of the transaction or the screenshot of the important information of the wallet must be your personal information, so try not to make this information public. Because if this information reaches someone else or if this information becomes public, you may be in danger or access to your wallet may go into someone else's hands. You must be careful to save such important screenshots as you don't want anyone else to get access to your wallet.

There is no problem in taking screenshot of bitcoin transaction but sharing screenshot of bitcoin in your wallet can definitely cause your security issues. In particular, many people store bitcoins in mobile wallet or computer wallet, they should not share these screenshots online and any time due to this screenshot, there may be a problem regarding personal security, i.e. there is a possibility of facing a terrible situation like kidnapping.

Is there really a need to keep the screenshots? The transaction history is always there. If at any time you need a transaction for evidence you can just go there and share that particular transaction with the person to prove that you've made the transfer without even saving the picture on your phone.
If you must send a screenshot why not delete it when you're done?
I don't think any harm can be done with the screenshots if they get into the wrong hands, because there are no passwords or private stuff in the receipts, but there is no point in a screenshot if the receipts are always there.

With Bitcoin, you can just send the transaction ID to the person to prove you've done the transfer. You don't have to keep the screenshots on your phone for proof.

If you have ever used bitcoin or altcoin storage wallets like Electrum, Trustwallet, coinbase on your phone... you will receive a warning on your phone screen when trying to take a screenshot to store the Seeds phrase. That will endanger your privacy and safety. So, in your friend's case, no matter what his purpose is, taking screenshots if related to transactions, asset balances, seed phrases... will not be safe and easy to encounter risk.

Many new investors often make this mistake because they do not clearly understand the importance of such sensitive information, only when they have problems with that habit will they truly awaken.

This is your bitcoin transactions we are talking about here and not your private keys as screen shot, i see no bad idea if you screenshot for that as long as its not going to capture any of the information's that should be personal and private to you alone, no scammer or hackers can be able to do anything with just seeing your transaction id, they can only use that to place a track record of the address used and not going to have access to your wallet or steal your coin from you by hacking it.

   It is not safe at all keeping screenshot transactions on your phone or even text messages because anyone can be in possession of your phone at any time,one needs to be careful in these life because nobody is to be trusted .

   Bitcoin informations needs to be kept away from the public in other for you to secure your assets.

If it's to prove liars wrong, then it's ok to take screenshots as evidence. However, the shots should be deleted as soon as they serve their purposes.

He keeps stuff away from you just the same way you keep stuff away from him. It's an equal match in secrecy. If you guys have this type of friendship, I don't think it should bother you much with what he does with his life.

Everyone has one important info or the other they keep on their phones and it behooves them to make sure they activate security features on their devices in case they fall into wrong hands. I would suggest SIM lock in addition to phone lock. I believe your friend should know about that too.

It's not safe but then it's the price we pay for having mobile devices.

It's better he's warned than not warned at all. There's no sweet way of breaking a sordid news of death of a loved one to a bereaved, no matter how sophisticated the euphemism employed into it.

While taking screenshots could be natural for us, but if it’s about triggering privacy and security, then it’s never good already. Well, if he’s only taking screenshots of his bitcoin transactions, I think we should never worry for that. However, in case that he will lost his phone accidentally, then that stranger who will find it will know that your friend is hodling bitcoin which I think could also put his life in danger without him knowing. With that, your friend should be given notice to stop that habit, otherwise he is putting his bitcoin investment into its risk of losing from stealing or scamming, we don’t really know.

There’s no way bitcoin sensitive information remains safe once it’s  being screenshot. You are not only risking your own life or your own bitcoin investment, but even the lives of your family. So as much as possible, get rid of it.

Why leaving screenshots of your transaction history on your phone? How will you even feel secure doing that, it doesn’t make any sense to me. What if you end up giving your phone to the wrong person, and they saw the receipt that you screenshot on your money phone, don’t you think your life might end up being at risk? The person already knows you are financially okay, so he might end up sending people to attack you and you will be robbed of everything which you are having.

Definitely he’s going to be in a big problem if the phone falls in a wrong hands, but all what you can do is to advise him, if he listens to you, then it will be better for him, but if he doesn’t, then their is nothing you can do about it, you can’t stop him from making screenshots and keeping them on his phone.

No it makes no sense. Any information which you think it’s private, once it’s stored online, then it’s no longer private, anybody can have access to it, and it might be the wrong person that will have access to it.

It’s easy, walk to him, and talk to him about the behavior, or are you scared of your friend? If you are not scared, then just talk to him. I think that’s just the only thing which you can do.

yes it is necessary to screenshot every transaction you make, either Bitcoin transaction or bank transaction is very important to screenshot it. when we're still using binance in Nigeria, I pay for a particular coin, the seller of the coins do not want to release the coin for me, I chart him up that he should release coins that I have paid, no response so I quickly go to appeal, and they asked me where is the screenshot of my payment. I forward it to them immediately and binance write him that within one hours, we should settle our seif immediately he released the coin.  so if not the that I screenshot the payment receipt, that is how my money would have Lost.

I mean it would definitely be better if he didn't, there is no doubt about that, or at least have backups just in case anything happens to his phone because lets be honest we are talking about having a trouble eventually, and that's the most important part.

I think it's clear that we are going to end up with something that will change the way he approaches things if he ends up losing some money to this, and that does make sense in the end. I believe that the best thing to do would be not doing this at all, but if he insists on doing this then at least tell him to have some backup plan, that would be a lot better and would give him a greater return, it would definitely allow him to get a better return in the end as well.

A person who is into P2P trading must take and send screenshots of the transactions being sent and receive screenshots of transactions being received because that is necessary as it works as proof between the parties about the money sent or received.

Other than that, if a person takes screenshots of sensitive information such as their account balance, how much Bitcoin they have, etc. That can be dangerous sometimes because you might become a target for robbers and stalkers, and you might even get attacked. Some mobiles don't let users take screenshots of sensitive screens such as when you are using your banking app, etc.

So, if your friend takes screenshots of passwords and other sensitive information, that might become an issue for him if he loses his mobile, otherwise, he must know what he is doing.

It still doesn't change the fact that these screenshots are just ordinary images and can not be used to sign into your wallet or whatsoever. Most at times, people take screenshot for reference purposes. So taking screenshot of his transaction doesn't have any consequences itself that will make someone to be panic. I know it would be better to avoid it if one can because of the risk that may likely be associated with it if you mistakenly share it publicly but again, this depends on the circle of people you live among.

Your friend is already used to it as you said and how it has vindicated him previously with dealing with some traders. The only thing I think you can do now is to caution him to be careful and limit the way he allows people to have access to his phone. There's no direct effect of screenshot taking but just like you assume in the Op, it could make someone a target for hackers and probably physical attack since people have the mentality that you're rich once you are into crypto trading.

By the way, what happened to auto generated trx hash? Isn't that enough evidence as far as crypto is concern?

I am not in that habit mate , nope I'm not the one that keeps screenshot or even saving them not unless i really needed one for personal matter, I rather same my gambling status in each site for proofs if ever something comes wrong in the future.

tell him that he can keep those screenshot but make sure that those are saved in the gadget that will never be compromised  because once she fails then all his funds will be in trouble .

Since you guys had a chat and he told you he wanted to be a bitcoin hodler, then you should be the one to tell him some basic things, like he should avoid taking screenshots of his winnings in the crypto space. You will tell him that crypto scammers are very intelligent and cryptocurrency is not like other stuff he does and shows online. You should tell him things that he would keep secret. He should show everything. However, I believe if he did that, you would have known since the other ones he did, but still, I will say you should advise him.

Although you are not trying to teach him what he is about, whether it is trading or investing, you should just advise him to keep things secret to avoid being scammed.


Even though things are very difficult now, if they are not on our devices, where did you expect us to keep our things that are associated with the internet? For your useful information, there are many ways you can store it in your phone, and you won't get any problems. It just remains for you how you handle your device. If you are giving people your phone, like if many people get access to your device, there is definitely a problem, especially your seed phrase and private key.

These are the most important things you should keep safe in your phone because they are the things that will make someone get access to your funds, so you just have to keep your device safe because they are the things that will make someone get access to your funds, so you just have to keep your device safe and know the kind of people you give your device to.

Nothing more than to keep advising him to stop keeping screenshots of transactions and other information that it knows is sensitive on his phone device. You try to explain the danger that such habits involve; it may not know the danger of it, which may be the reason why it is doing that. So if you can explain that to him, I believe he will surely take your advice and stop those kinds of habits. The reason why keepingsome information on your phone is not advisable is because you don't know the person who may have the opportunity to hold your phone one day, and after seeing that information, it may change their habits. Trust no one. That is why sensitive information is kept private where nobody will see it, except the person you tell. 


Keeping screenshots of Bitcoin/crypto transactions and useful information can make someone easily lose their Bitcoinbecause if scammers get in touch with your phone and they find even only screenshots of transactions you have done, they can do further research on your phone to get the useful information they need, or they may even attack you and ask you to tell them more information on the on the website so they can steal your Bitcoin. I will not advise anyone to keep screenshots of its Bitcoin transactions on their phone. If you can get proof of transaction information on your wallet,why keep it on your phone? 

I think almost all of us who are connected online have to store their important information and also if he is a crypto currency investor then he has to store the private key of his wallets and various investment stuff sometimes be it screenshot or some times through note pad. I'd say if he stores screenshots of the private key without any privacy then I'd say it's nothing but stupidity. I think it is important to maintain privacy and then store it on screen or notepad.  For this I will tell you to ask your friend to use encryption method to store all this important information.

There are those that love taking screenshots of everything and all payments and transactions they make but they should try as much as possible not to keep vital information on their phones so they don’t risk losing their assets. Someone who has access to their device can easily take useful information and even friends cannot be trusted with such informations.

It is not safe to save screenshot or important information on any device that is connected to the internet because  every thing that has internet connection can be compromised and hacked so the safest way to store your personal information and data related to your crypto wallet and assets is to store them offline away from internet connection. If you search the forum well you will see threads of the most recommendable ways to store your personal informations and information relating to your assets and wallets and recommend them to your friend.

I don’t think there would be anything bad if your advice sounds like you are sensing bad days coming because it would be better to advise him as a good friend you are than leave him be until something bad actually happens, if anything happens your conscience will come after you and make you have regrets. Just play your part whatever way you can and let him do the thinking, if he doesn’t take your advice seriously then he has himself to blame when anything happens and at least you have cleared your conscience.

Prevention they say is better than cure so the best thing you can do as a good friend is to advise him on the dangers of keeping screenshots on his devices so vital information doesn’t end up in the wrong hands and get compromised.

Ever since I learned that anything connected to the internet is hackable, I don't joke with sensitive information on my phone, you don't know when you will be caught unaware. Personally, I don't take screenshot of transactions, what I do most of the time is that I just share them the transaction harsh and that is enough as an evidence to show any person that I have send or received Bitcoin from them, taking transaction screenshot may even make people to be looking at you like a wealthy person.

Your friend might think that taking a screenshot doesn't mean any thing but it means a lot, you just need to inform him about the dangers of keeping such things on his phone. If he is the type of person that loves to take pictures on his phone and friends love to use the same phone, he might also become a target because people are quick to assume and will think he has a Bitcoin in massive.

Bank transactions screenshot is totally different, I can also relate with what op is saying cause I screenshot my transaction details for each transaction I make with my mobile app. The screenshot is just a prove or I can prefer to send the transaction details using pdf. This habit is just common, there's nothing to brag about but the screenshot stand as a prove for making such transaction but it's okay if most people get uncomfortable with this act. Bitcoin has to do with privacy so it's obvious your friend will have to take this part more serious, some crypto apps and sites do disable screenshot features and I have experienced similar issue like this several times.

I would say that saving screen shots of anything financially that isn't on some sort of encrypted drive is likely not a very good idea.  I mean if someone really wanted to hack you, then this could help lead them to knowing you've got crypto holdings, and help them get that much closer to potentially being able to steal coins from you.  Now this is certainly not guarantee, I just think it would be smart to not save this type of stuff on your PC.

I dont think that everyone individual has the fear of being hacked, mostly because they got free flowing funds or they have nothing really both in their account and personal life, that's worth hacking away at.
For transactions that have already been concluded without reference to personal details or account statements, such transactions can be screenshoted incase it was a valued transactional detail.

To be used for possible future referential purposes or confirmation after that, it should be deleted.
Some  sites have anti-screenshot features, since he is starting overtime he would value privacy and security of crypto asset. Even on our mobiles we hide our Wallets, remove every possible trace of transactions and even cautious of links and sites we visit. Since he has formed it as a habit, don't be surprised he can also screenshot passwords to his wallet which the later becomes history.

As a friend with your exposure and valuable insights you can initiate a discussion Bitcoin ,then hit the target from there without him knowing or Sensing it to safeguard him from possible danger ahead.

Saving of screenshot whatsoever is threatening now, security issues everywhere, you're invariably exposing yourself to criminals and haters that can set you up after they have seen those screenshot believing that you always carryout such transactions.

Just like the case of your friend, if you had any ill feelings towards him this would might propagated more hatred, envy and jealousy towards him and you look for means to silence him financially.

I mean if he educated himself before diving into Bitcoin/crypto then he should know that taking screenshots of like a password or private key is the number 1 no-no in this market. It's good if he screenshot his transactions, but then again, everything is recorded in the blockchain so there is no need for it. And just like your friend, I also take screenshots of my winnings from time to time and show it to my friends as that's how we do gambling, but that's it. No screenshot of personal info or data in my phone or even any of my crypto transactions. So I guess that's the first thing that you can tell your friends, to protect his mnemonic phrase or privatekey and copied it, no ss whatsoever and then back it up multiple times.

One of the things that is quite prohibited when saving important data is screenshots. In fact, there are several platforms that prohibit screenshots of certain pages on their platforms, one of which is the assets and wallets page. Because, this action is considered quite risky, especially for these users. Indeed, this depends on how each individual secures their important data, but we will never know when our device will be lost or when someone will know the SS results.

However, if we really want to take a screenshot of certain data, then make sure that we immediately move it and store it in a truly confidential and safe place. Don't let it become public consumption or information spread rapidly. Moreover, I have seen or even often seen how people happily share screenshots of their investments on social media. Isn't this also quite risky, right? Because the rise of cyber crimes is sometimes beyond the control of ordinary people. Because of this, it is important to secure our assets and data as best as possible.

There is no need keeping Bitcoin transactions, it is better the transaction id is saved somewhere for better reference which looks cool than trying to safe it on phone that is usually mobile and if it gets lost, anything could happen. No matter the reason, we should know how to keep things safe avoid unnecessary drama that could occur as a result of our mistakes becoming careless. We can always track trade transactions from the Blockchain which is a cool way for us and it's better than keep the screenshots in a mobile phones we use on a daily basis. Maybe it could be saved in a computer that is not always used frequently for when it will be needed.

It depends on how you can maintain the level of privacy because for online life only individuals can maintain the level of security. But if you use someone else's device, the level of security may be much more at risk because we never know how they can access the transactions we have carried out on their device. It's better to avoid transactions and screenshots on other people's devices because it's not very safe for important things that we need to protect.

Delete all the transactions, whether they are left in the cache or anywhere else, because if you just tell him to delete them, you can't be sure whether he has actually deleted them completely. I'm not very comfortable using other people's devices for transactions or buying and selling assets because for me security is something we can protect ourselves and we can't necessarily trust other people.

Saving screenshots would be good if they're not privacy-related. Those who are related to Bitcoin care about our privacy. Related to crypto, he should avoid taking screenshots of crypto transactions or wallets. Sometimes our friends could check our phones, and they might see our balance, etc. Also, a phone might be stolen where thieves could check everything from the screenshot. Ask your friend to avoid such habits for privacy reasons. And give priority to privacy. 

It's not really a problem to take a screenshot when buying Bitcoin, because it doesn't contain anything sensitive. maybe he did it to remind him someday.

It would be better for you to suggest writing the transactions in a spreadsheet, Excel or something else so that they don't fill up the cellphone memory. Even though there are concerns about being hacked or something, I don't think so because again what is shown in the screenshot is only the purchase. It's different if what he screenshots are recovery phrases. If you use an exchanger, also remind yourself not to screenshot your account because someone could easily enter and take over the bitcoins you already have.

We all know here that recovery data is the main key to opening a Bitcoin wallet. with that you can lose all your assets and that is what constitutes a careless act.

As much as possible, just refrain or totally avoid doing screenshots when it comes to bitcoin transactions. Even if the seed phrase or password is not in there, but the fact that you admit that you have bitcoin in your wallet, then you are still putting yourself into danger. You might lost your phone and might held by a crypto scammer, then you are giving him the hints to set you as their new target for scamming. As early as now, tell your friend to stop taking screenshots.

No harm in saving screenshots of transactions or your wallet address, however consider that if you value privacy you wouldn't want those screenshots being leaked to family or friends of your cryptocurrency balances. For now you might think, I only have 0.01 or 0.1 BTC why is it a concern? Well that will be worth millions one day and any screenshots you share in a public setting, or you accidentally make immutable by uploading to an image sharing site (e.g. imgur, reddit, etc), could come back to haunt you.

The issue with taking screenshots related to your cryptocurrency, is taking screenshots of your 12 word seed recovery phrase. You must NEVER take any digital record of your seed phrase. This is just unnecessary risk and creates an increased chance of theft for your coins.

The truth is no phone is 100% secured, and they become even less secure once you unlock the bootloader, meaning that the OEM can't protect your data any longer, but still, even the OEM can't be trusted, all mobile phone companies have their ways of spying on us all.

I don't mind saving screenshots of transactions from one bank account to another bank account because sometimes you need to show proof of transactions to others, but the dangers start with the amount, if in millions of millions then they know.

The biggest problem is taking screenshots of your crypto wallet, or recovery seed, that shit can get uploaded into the cloud, this day that Google will want to back up all your pictures into the cloud, and it's not a safe practice.

Saving screenshots of useful information is like holding in hot wallet, you don't know what will happen, but as long as you not lose your coins, you think it's safe. Unfortunately, when they're lost their coins, they're not realize if they did something bad, they think they're did correct thing and not click any suspicious links.

Yeah, unfortunately both Android and IOS aren't open sources.

Saving private information such as the private key or seed phrase through screenshots is not advisable, and even if someone is saving their backups or writing them down, I wouldn't recommend any online services for that. Google Docs can be useful in this regard but in rare cases, they can also be compromised either by hacks, exploits, or scams that you might encounter while you are in the cryptocurrency industry.

I know that a lot of people take a lot of screenshots mostly because they want them as proof if they need it anytime in the future. People who do a lot of P2P trades tend to have this habit very much because they might have to face a lot of scammers and stuff and they can use those screenshots to convince customer service agents that they are being scammed.

If they're just transactions, I think that's fine as most people that do transactions are keeping a copy for themselves and that's how easy it is to do.

But, one thing is your concern about the phone falling into the hands of the wrong person when someone oversees it and starts to think of a bad plan because that person might think that your friend has got a lot of money.

That's why for me, it's best to keep these transactions private and never show it to anyone and don't show anything that might give them a motivation to do something bad.

Like your buddy, I personally do take screenshots of things I believe are important and would want to revisit at a later time which isn't a bad thing, and besides content could be deleted and you won't find what you looking for, or perphaps you could use this as evidence in case someone says a transaction never happened...
If you ask me, it's actually a good habit as compared to relying on your biological memory which can forget if it wasn't interested in something.


If it's something sensitive such as a mnemonic or some private keys his keeping as screenshots here you could tell them that should you lose your device or should it remain unattended to someone else could have access to this information which could lead to him losing valuable items and to avoid this he better find other means to store such data.

But if it's nothing too personal and private, I think there is nothing to worry about and nice looking out for your friend;)

Well, I agree with everyone here. Carelessness ends up in regrets and disappointments and this kind of habit ( screenshots of wallet keys or important accounts and passwords) is not a good practice if we want to keep safe. We can't just ignore what hackers can do and what if our phones are lost.
We don't just wait to become a victim before we correct our actions and the way how to take care of our funds. We don't stay ignorant in this case since we hear a lot of stories talking about this.

If I were in your place, I would suggest to my friend not to do that anymore or not make it a habit as this will only give easy access to the wallet. 

If you are against storing private keys/seed phrases and don't want to give any online services then why are you mentioning Google Docs? It is no more secure than any other online storage service and is even riskier when you store seed phrases/private keys on centralized online services.
For me, offline storage is always the only option, although they also have certain limitations but it is definitely easier to control the situation than online.

Online storage is much more at risk of hacking and we will most likely be negligent in maintaining it. When someone chooses a safe place to store their Seed phrase then they should understand the impact of such storage so that they have a decision before taking action. The decision to save the Seed Phrase will be our responsibility as owners and if we are not able to maintain it we will be at risk.

Apart from offline storage, I also prepare it in written form and I save it in a place that no one knows about. Sometimes writing the Seed phrase can be a solution when we want to give a will to someone we trust so that they can take the writing after we tell those we trust.

Transactions that involved money and your bitcoin hodlings are definitely not advisable to take screenshots. Regardless if your seed phrase is not visible there, but the fact that your bitcoin hodlings might be visible for others if ever you misplaced your phone and someone who’s well aware about crypto might found it, then you are risking your bitcoin investment and most especially you are putting your life in danger. So as much as possible, chose the safer way, minimize or certainly avoid taking screenshots when sensitive information are involved.

What else does he use the screenshot for? Doesn’t his device’s storage get filled up with it or something? Once he’s done with the transaction and it has served its purpose, he should delete it. Also, about his phone getting into the wrong hands, it’s not possible for me because I don’t let anyone have access to my device. And when I’m not with it, it is always locked. If your phone gets stolen and you’re scared it could be unlocked, you can always erase the data in it remotely.

It's just so unfortunate that we are in a world where people pay less attention to the security of their assets and other valuable personal information but yet as soon as they fall victims, they start looking for who will help them when the deed has already been done. It's important to give the security of our assets utmost priorities because they're where our hopes are bestowed in the future.

It have have been discussed on this forum severally on the risk of taking screenshots of our personal information or even if you must do a screenshot, let it not be sensitive information because literally since your files are being captured on Google cloud especially when you back up your files on Google, it may be vulnerable to scammers to take advantage of it and defraud you unknowingly.

Our mobile apps and smartphones have already collected a lot of our data, so storing screenshots has no significant impact. When a bad guy gets a smartphone, they will want to steal personal information + private keys to get our assets. There is not much difference between saving screenshots or storing information in Notes.

If he only has screenshots of transactions, addresses and tx, then everything is fine. The only thing I worry about is if he takes a screenshot of the account private key or QR 2FA and syncs it to iCloud/Drive, he will face a big risk if his Apple/Google account is hacked and taken over.

There's absolutely no much difference between saving screenshots or storing information in notes because at the end of the day, it's still on the device.

Many of our modern smartphones automatically sync to an iCloud or Google drive once there's a registered user within access. It could also be much difficult if Google is hacked or iCloud hacked for hackers to gain access to all the details of users, unless they are specifically looking for a match.

Having some proof of wealth accumilation is good to fight of law abusers.

let’s be real here lots of people take screenshots because it is easy and convenient and a lot of us are too lazy to actually store them somewhere safe but let me tell you that this laziness will bite you back somewhere in the future and you’d wish you would have stored it safely

If that screenshot won't ever see the online space or would be connected to any foreign device then it's going to be totally safe, remember that anything that's never connected to anything is totally safe like those air gapped computers, they're the most safest unless there's another device that would be connected to them then there's no way you can have your information or bitcoin stolen. Regarding your transactions, I don't think you're going to need to be keeping that away because when there's an investigation under your name, you'll definitely going to be providing that addresses and they're still going to know all of the transactions that you've done. But by all I means if you are keeping a record of something, it's definitely advisable to do that, those screenshots will act as your receipt for the transactions that you're going to do.

I honestly do this often and I do not think this will harm me or it will lead to regrets. Indeed, it was just screenshots of BTC transactions and for me, it was not concerning a lot unless it was a screenshot of our keys/passwords. Whether doing this is a wrong thing or not, the most important is we are aware of what we did and have been concerned about the safety of our wallets.

Proper education is indeed a very important thing here in the crypto space. Keeping ourselves private seems to be a helping way to keep our funds intact and avoid hacking. So if we think doing this could create risks, then must stop it.

I don't think that is a good idea because most of the apps in our phones require access to gallery.
We provide access to these apps and so it is not recommended to store screenshots of important information on mobile phones.
Besides that, our photos also gets backed up on cloud and if our account is somehow hacked then our those screenshots will compromise our information.

How important is it to do. If it's not important, it means it's okay.
For me it's not safe unless he has two smartphones with different functions.

When a cellphone changes hands, not because it is stolen or lost, today's smartphones generally have advanced security for initial access because they have several types of security to be able to open it, from PIN passwords, patterns to face scans. There is another concern if we often take screenshots of important information such as Bitcoin asset information, crypto and other financial transactions that are still private when the person holding our smartphone knows the password to open it.

If the party who takes our smartphone still has no negative intentions, you're lucky. If our smartphone falls into negative hands, woe to us with all the important information we have screenshotted.