Collection
Screenshot monitoring without creating a liability
Screenshots are the highest-risk capability in any monitoring product, including ours. A screen capture shows whatever was on screen: a personal message, a medical portal, another person's data. In SnitchOS capture is on by default, and an administrator can turn screenshots off or blur them for a whole tenant or one person. The question is whether a client can live with what stays on.
Published · Updated
Start from the risk, not the feature. A product that counts application time collects data you can describe precisely. Screen capture collects an open-ended category, since it depends on what the employee was looking at. That does not make it illegitimate, just the part needing the most explicit decisions.
The five things that determine your exposure
Most writing treats all five as dials you turn. In SnitchOS three are fixed by the platform. Only two are yours.
| Factor | What it controls | Where SnitchOS lands |
|---|---|---|
| Whether capture happens | Whether any of this applies | Always on. No enable/disable switch anywhere |
| Cadence | Volume of images captured | One frame every 60 seconds by default, set per tenant within 30–3600 seconds |
| Retention | How long the exposure persists | Platform-defined: 30 days in primary storage, archived through day 365, then deleted |
| Viewing access | Who can see them | Per client. Roles are Admin or Manager, changes logged for three years |
| Who is in scope | Which people are captured at all | Per-person pause, stops every signal for that person. The only exclusion mechanism |
Ask what question this answers
The test with a client: what decision would a screenshot change? "We want to look" does not survive a dispute. "We bill for contractor hours and need corroboration" does.
Elsewhere the advice is to leave screenshots off and rely on activity data. SnitchOS has no off. If nobody can articulate the question, SnitchOS is the wrong product for that client.
Per-person pause handles the narrower case. A role that should never be captured, an HR lead, in-house counsel, an employee assistance contact, can be paused. That stops screenshots and every signal for that person while the rest continues. There is no way to exempt one app or site while leaving the person otherwise monitored.
Cadence and deduplication
Higher frequency means more images to store and explain, not more insight. SnitchOS captures one frame every 60 seconds by default, discarding near-duplicate frames so volume tracks activity, not wall-clock time. The interval is a tenant setting, adjustable between 30 and 3600 seconds, so whatever you put in the employee notice should be the value you actually configured.
Retention is the exposure clock
Retention decides how long a captured screen can be requested, breached, or disclosed. In SnitchOS this is platform-defined: screenshots sit in primary storage for 30 days, move to archive through day 365, then are deleted. It cannot be shortened per client.
Access is the control clients ask about
"Who can see these?" is the question employees ask, and clients are least prepared for it. Answer with a named list, not a role. In SnitchOS, grants are per client: a Manager sees only the clients assigned to them, and every change is logged for three years.
Tell people before, and in specifics
Notice that mentions monitoring generally but not screenshots causes problems later. State that screen images are captured, the cadence, who may view them, and how long they are kept. The notice template and employee FAQ both cover screenshots. Requirements vary by location: see the notice and consent checklist and involve counsel.
Limits
No configuration makes screenshot monitoring risk-free. Controls reduce the probability and the blast radius, not eliminate either. If a client cannot accept that risk, the answer is a different product: SnitchOS captures screens, and we cannot switch that off.
Sign up
Decide before you deploy, not after
Cadence and retention are fixed by the platform. Access is per client; pause is per person. Work out during the pilot whether that shape fits your clients.