WhatsApp announces new privacy features, including leaving groups silently
The Hindu
WhatsApp announces new privacy features, including leaving groups silently, that will be rolling out later this month
WhatsApp on Tuesday announced new privacy features, following which users of the instant messaging service will now be able to leave groups silently as well as choose who can see when they are online. WhatsApp will also block taking screenshots for ‘view once’ messages.
(Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today’s Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click here to subscribe for free.)
“New privacy features coming to WhatsApp: exit group chats without notifying everyone, control who can see when you're online, and prevent screenshots on view once messages. We'll keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations,” Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta said.
Meta owns products such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook.
With the ‘Leave Groups Silently’ features, WhatsApp users will be able to exit a group privately without having to notify everyone. Now, instead of notifying the full group when leaving, only the admins will be notified. This feature will start rolling out to all users this month.
“Seeing when friends or family are online helps users feel connected to one another, but everyone has had times when they wanted to check their WhatsApp privately. For the times you want to keep your online presence private, WhatsApp is introducing the ability to select who can and can’t see when you’re online,” WhatsApp said in a statement, adding that this feature will start rolling out to all users this month.
Additionally, the instant messaging application will now block taking screenshots for ‘View Once Messages’. It noted that ‘View Once’ is already an incredibly popular way to share photos or media that don’t need to have a permanent digital record. “Now WhatsApp is enabling screenshot blocking for View Once messages for an added layer of protection. This feature is being tested and will be rolled out to users soon,” it said.
