You may have encountered the message “Cannot take a screenshot due to security policy” when trying to take a screenshot on your mobile device. Screenshots are necessary when you want to share data you find on the Internet with someone else, or when you show them how something is being done on your device.
What do you need to fix “Can’t take the screenshot due to security policy” on an Android device
Modern phones and tablets have many different functions that you use every day. Many people use their devices mainly to spend time online. It’s quite convenient, with the development of modern wireless technology, you always have access to the Internet at your fingertips.
Under these conditions, people consume an incredible amount of content every day. The most different plan, whether it’s an article in a magazine or a funny picture on a social network.
It’s not always convenient to remember everything that is written or depicted there. Often it’s much more convenient to make a screenshot and simply send it to your friends or save it for yourself to remember important information.
Almost all modern devices have a screenshot function. It allows you to capture all or part of the screen of your device and keep as an image what was on your screen at that moment. However, sometimes you may have problems doing this. For example, when trying to take a screenshot you may get a message “Unable to take a screenshot due to security policy”.
Well, here’s how to fix “Can’t take the screenshot due to security policy” on your Android device.
What the message “Can’t take a screenshot due to security policy” means and where you can see it
This message can appear under different circumstances. If you take screenshots often, you must have encountered a similar message. People who use Android devices quite often encounter such a problem when trying to take a screenshot.
People complain that recently such a message is occurring more and more often. This is due to the security policy of certain companies. There are some of the most common cases when you may encounter such a message. Among them:
Google Chrome browser security policy
This message may appear when you’re in incognito mode. First, you should make sure that you’re out of this mode.
Such a message sometimes appears when you want to take a screenshot in incognito mode on various sites. For example on Facebook or Snapchat. To get rid of this and capture the content you want, just switch to a normal viewing mode.
If this doesn’t help you, there’s an alternative way to solve the problem with the Chrome browser. To do this, you need to:
- Go to Settings.
- Then select Other apps.
- Then find Blocking apps (if there’s any).
- Then go to the Permissions tab.
- And enable permissions for storage.
Then you will be able to take necessary screenshots from Facebook or Snapchat.
Security policy for different apps
This notification may also be related to the policy on the protection of confidential data by different apps. The app may have a built-in feature that prevents you from taking a screenshot to protect your data from being stolen by intruders.
Usually, such features are built into financial or banking apps or on password and login windows. This is to protect your data from hackers who could hack into your phone or simply so that you don’t accidentally take a screenshot of important information that could fall into the hands of third parties.
Some phone settings
Also, there’re some settings on cell phones which block the possibility to take a screenshot. In this case, you need to contact the support service of your phone manufacturer and check the security settings of your phone.
How to enable screenshots in Chrome incognito mode
As long as you use Google Chrome for normal browsing, you can easily take screenshots without any difficulty. However, when it comes to browsing in Google Chrome in incognito mode, you’re simply not allowed to take screenshots. There’s a way to enable screenshots in Google Chrome. Follow these steps:
- First of all, open the Google Chrome app on your Android device.
- Then, in the address bar at the top, just type “chrome://flags”.

- This will open an experiment page where you can enable or disable certain features in Google Chrome.
- In the search box, simply enter “Incognito screenshot”.

- When you find the flag, just tap on the “Default” button. A list will open.
- Select “Enabled” from the list.

- After that, you will be prompted to restart the browser. Restart it by tapping on the “Relaunch” button.

- Now enter incognito mode in Google Chrome and try to take a screenshot.
Now you can take screenshots right away without any error messages.
How to fix the problem “Can’t take screenshots due to security policy”
There are some main reasons why a screenshot may not work. Getting around this restriction isn’t easy. However, there are a few tricks you can use to get around it.
If you come across an app where screenshot taking is disabled due to high-security policy, it could be a banking app, PayPal, or a money transfer app, there are a few tricks you can try. Such as:
- Using a third-party app that takes screenshots. There are a lot of them in the Play Store. Usually, such apps aren’t blocked by banking apps or any other apps with a high security bar.
- Use Google Assistant. You can take a screenshot with Google Assistant. It’s pretty simple, you need to do this:
- Open the app that limits the ability to take screenshots
- Press and hold the Home button and launch GOOGLE ASSISTANT.
- Navigate to the WHAT IS ON MY SCREEN button.
- Then tap Share screenshot.
- You can then choose where to save the file or send it directly to someone else.
- Take another phone and just take a picture of your screen. It’s a pretty crude method, but it will work. The quality won’t be very good but you will be able to capture the information you want.
Also, don’t forget that you have enough space on the phone to save a screenshot and that you have this function enabled in the settings. If you’re taking a screenshot with your browser, make sure you have incognito mode turned off.
Many security policies are now highly likely to be enabled on your device if you’re using an Android device provided by your organization, which can be disabled or enabled by your organization’s administrator. In those cases, you have no way to disable it or even try to take screenshots. So, in order to take screenshots on your device, you might have to talk to your organization and see if they will allow you to take screenshots or not.