WhatsApp is again shoring up its privacy features with an array of new tools that includes the ability to prevent ephemeral messages from being screenshotted.
If you’ve set a message to View Once, which means it disappears after all parties have seen it, other members of the chat will not be able take a screenshot to persevere it beyond that point. This closes a loophole in the View Once feature, which somewhat undermined its effectiveness.
“View Once is already an incredibly popular way to share photos or media that don’t need to have a permanent digital record,” said a company representative in a new blog post. “Now we’re enabling screenshot blocking for View Once messages for an added layer of protection. We’re testing this feature now and are excited to roll it out to users soon.”
It’s not the only feature arriving today, with the Meta-owned app now giving users the opportunity to leave groups silently, without announcing your departure to the whole group, and thus making it a big drama.
We’ve seen this in beta, but WhatsApp is now ready to bring it to all users. Once it arrives, only group admins will be informed users have left the group. The blog also mentions the recent addition of an enhanced privacy feature that enables users to control who sees when they’re online.
Commenting on the changes, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg writes: “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.”
The top comment on his post is a request for more: “Can we stop announcing that a message has been deleted?” adds Mike Asukwo. What other privacy changes would you like to see WhatsApp make? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
