The iPad screenshots at midnight?
March 29, 2018 6:13 AM   Subscribe

I just looked at my iPad's photo roll and I see that there is a screenshot of the lock screen taken on 31 January, 4, 18, 19 and 23rd February, and 23rd March. At 12:03am four times, once at 12:02am, and once at 12:09am. There are none prior to January 31. The timing makes me think it must be automatic rather than e.g. me pressing the wrong button trying to log in and accidentally screen shotting. Does anyone know what would be causing this? (I don't think the iPad does automatic updates that often, so I don't think it's that.)
posted by lollusc to Computers & Internet (10 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
You're sure those are not times you might have been turning off the screen? Because it's not hard to accidentally press Home and Sleep/Wake simultaneously and take a screenshot. Or, if by chance you have activated Assistive Touch in the Accessibility settings, you may have added a one-touch icon to your screen that would take a screenshot if you touch it.
posted by beagle at 7:28 AM on March 29, 2018


Response by poster: It's possible, but I find it weird that they are all within a few minutes of each other then, and most at exactly 12:03. My bedtime varies wildly, from 11pm to 3am and usually is around 1am or 1:30, not midnight. I usually use the iPad to read for half an hour or so before sleeping. The timing of these screenshots seems too coincidental - I never press the wrong button when turning the screen off later, even though that's usually when I go to sleep?

And actually I have a magnetic cover, so usually don't turn the screen off by pressing a button. I just close the cover.
posted by lollusc at 8:19 AM on March 29, 2018


Response by poster: And why only since January? I had the iPad for three years but all six screenshots are from the past two months.
posted by lollusc at 8:21 AM on March 29, 2018


Response by poster: Ooh, I just thought to check my calendar. Two of those dates I was out of town overnight, and I never take the iPad when I travel. So it was at home, screen off, charging. No kids who might be fiddling with it either.
posted by lollusc at 8:27 AM on March 29, 2018


it was at home, screen off, charging.

It's vaguely plausible that a device connected to a charger might mistake noise spikes on the electricity mains for the button combination that triggers a screenshot.

Do you have an off-peak electric hot water service on a timer that switches it on at midnight?
posted by flabdablet at 9:36 AM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]


You do have a cat, right? My cats do insane stuff to my tablet.
posted by jeather at 10:38 AM on March 29, 2018


My first thought was the iOS system or other software updating itself. If you check the App Store app, under Updates, you might be able to see if any app updates correspond to those dates.

Alternatively, do you have any third-party apps that might have that capability?
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:36 AM on March 29, 2018


Response by poster: Do you have an off-peak electric hot water service on a timer that switches it on at midnight?

We do, in fact. Could that really cause this? It seems a bit far fetched. And again weird that it never happened before January.

We also have a cat, but the iPad always has the cover closed when I'm not using it, and the cover is pretty rigid. I don't think she could make anything happen without the cover open to access the button, and I've never seen her pawing at it or doing anything other than just walking over it to get to the bed. MAYBE her foot on exactly the right place on the cover could press the main button. Is it possible to trigger a screenshot only with the top center button and not the power button? And again, weird that it's always a few minutes after midnight in that case.

I don't think there are third-party apps I've installed that do screenshots for any reason. But who knows. There are quite a lot of apps on there and I don't know how to tell if any have that ability.

I checked the app store under updates and it just says "this ipad is up-to-date" with no info on when previous updates occurred.
posted by lollusc at 7:24 PM on March 29, 2018


Could that really cause this? It seems a bit far fetched. And again weird that it never happened before January.

Once mains noise finds its way inside digital equipment it can do all kinds of weird stuff up to and including destroying it, which is why chargers contain MOVs that short out the worst of the spikes. But the thing about MOVs is that every time they do soak up a spike they take some internal damage, and after a while they just stop doing anything.

So you might want to get a new charger, or if your charger is plugged into a surge-protected power strip you might want to get a new one of those.
posted by flabdablet at 10:35 PM on March 29, 2018


Response by poster: My charger is definitely suspect. It was subject to a recall a year or two ago and I never got around to taking it in for replacement (because there was no close Mac store to me). I should really do that for sure.
posted by lollusc at 2:57 AM on March 30, 2018


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