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WhatsApp adds new privacy features that everyone should start using

Anita George
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You’ll soon be able to lurk and leave groups quietly on WhatsApp. Three new features have been announced for Meta’s messaging app, and they all seem to be about helping users protect their privacy.

On Tuesday, WhatsApp announced three new privacy features: leaving groups silently, deciding who gets to see if you’re online, and screenshot blocking.

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Your privacy deserves more protection.

That's why we're excited to announce three 🆕 layers of security to wrap your messages in.

Learn what they do 👇 pic.twitter.com/AmV0YoZcC8

— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) August 9, 2022

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Meta also issued a blog post announcement about the three new privacy features. According to this announcement, WhatsApp users will be able to leave group chats quietly, meaning if users choose to leave the group chat, the whole group will no longer be notified about it. Instead, admins will be the only ones notified of your exit.

Additionally, WhatsApp will also be giving its users the ability to choose who can see when you’re online and who can’t.  According to a screenshot shared in the blog post announcement, this feature will allow users to choose visibility options like Everyone, My contacts, My contacts except, and Nobody. Also, if users don’t share their “last seen” and “online” statuses, they won’t be able to view those statuses of other users. Both this feature and the “leaving groups silently” feature are both slated to roll out this month to all users.

WhatsApp mobile screenshot showing online status privacy feature.
Meta/WhatsApp

And lastly, the third privacy feature WhatsApp announced is screenshot blocking for View Once messages. If you’re not familiar, View Once messages are messages in which photos and videos that are sent disappear from your chat once your intended recipient has viewed them once.

WhatsApp screenshot blocking feature.
Meta/WhatsApp

With screenshot blocking for View Once messages, recipients are blocked from taking a screenshot of those messages. This feature is being tested and a release date hasn’t been announced for it yet.

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Anita George
Anita George
Computing Writer
Anita has been a technology reporter since 2013 and currently writes for the Computing section at Digital Trends. She began…
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