Three new WhatsApp privacy features coming to popular messaging app Meta let you control who sees your online status, block screenshots for one-time viewing, and more.
- What is happening? Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook post reveals three new WhatsApp privacy features that will increase your privacy and security when using the messaging app. First, you can now control who can see when you’re online. A screenshot of disappearing messages for a one-time view is no longer possible. And finally, you can now leave group chats without notifying everyone.
- Why care? Previously, you couldn’t control your online presence, anyone could take a screenshot with a one-time photo view, and leaving a group chat would notify everyone.
- What to do? Be sure to download the latest version of WhatsApp [ App Store link ] and try out the new privacy features (they are rolling out gradually, so check back later if you haven’t already).
3 new WhatsApp privacy and security features
The official announcement on the WhatsApp blog notes that WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, has launched a privacy ad campaign to educate people about these new features, starting in India and the UK, and ending in other countries this year. Read: How to Share Live Photos as GIFs on WhatsApp
1. Control who sees your last visit and online status
Now you can control your online presence by deciding who sees when you’re online. You can hide your online status from certain contacts, or set it to “Same as last seen”if you want your last visit and online to have the same level of privacy.
You can make your last seen status visible to everyone, to no one, or only to the people you have added as WhatsApp contacts. And if you select the “My contacts except”option, you can hide your status from certain contacts.
Your last visit and online status tells others when you last used WhatsApp and whether you are online. “Last visit refers to when the contact last used WhatsApp,” the WhatsApp support document says about last visit and online.
If someone is online on WhatsApp, it means that the app is open in the foreground on their device and connected to the internet, although it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have read your message.
2. Block screenshots for messages with a one-time view
WhatsApp supports sending media files that can only be viewed once before they disappear, but it has a major omission: there is no screen capture lock.
This is about to change, because any attempt to take a screenshot of a photo for a one-time view, or use the iOS screen recording feature to record videos, will fail and the recipient will see a message like this:
This screenshot has been blocked for added privacy.
Screenshot lock only works for photos and videos that are meant to be viewed once. A chat member can still take a screenshot of a WhatsApp chat without you noticing it, even if there are some disappearing messages in the chat.
Unfortunately, locking screenshots won’t stop someone from using another phone or recording device to create a picture of a WhatsApp conversation.