WhatsApp New Privacy Update Hides Your Status and Activity From Strangers
- With the new privacy update, non-contacts will no longer be able to see your last seen status on WhatsApp.
- Various third-party applications can log the last seen and the online status of selected contacts on the App Store and Google Play Store.
- Users can also set messages to disappear by default after reading them now.
WhatsApp's new privacy update will prevent people who are not in your contacts from seeing your activity status, and both Android and iOS devices can now access this new feature. This update will prevent unknown users from seeing your last seen and online status on the app, further enhancing user privacy in the world of instant messaging services.
The Meta-owned platform says "we're making it harder for people you don't know and haven't chatted with from seeing your last seen and online presence on WhatsApp" in an email response from the support team. This means that if you don't have an active chat with a person, they cannot see your online status anymore.
Numerous third-party apps that track selected contacts' last seen and online status are available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and anyone can use them to find out when a specific person who is not in their contact list is online on WhatsApp. With this update, this privacy concern is eliminated.
In addition to this, WhatsApp added a new feature that lets users set messages to disappear by default after reading them. The limit can be set to a day, a week, or three months, allowing users to save some messages and let go of the rest. According to WhatsApp, the feature previously had a limit of seven days only. However, it can be disabled whenever you want.
Earlier this month, Telegram also announced a few privacy features, after reports in August said self-destructing messages on Telegram may be permanently stored in macOS.