WhatsApp has announced it is rolling out a new privacy feature to give users more control over how they use group chats in the hugely popular messaging app – and we couldn’t be happier.
The Facebook-owned service has announced changes that will give users the ability to control who is able to add them to a group – and more importantly, who can’t.
You’ll now be able to choose from the following three options when using group chats in WhatsApp.
- ‘Nobody’ – meaning no one will be able to add you to a group (though there’s a caveat we’ll get to a second)
- ‘My Contacts – which allows people whose numbers who have saved to add you to groups
- ‘Everyone’ – pretty self-explanatory, this means anyone can add you to a group
Enabling the new group privacy feature is simple. Just go to Settings > Account >Privacy > Groups in the app and you’ll see all the available options if it’s already rolled out to you.
However, there are a couple of catches. First, if someone tries to add you to a group but you’ve stopped them from doing so, they can still send you a private message with an invite link valid for 72-hours.
So while the problem of being added to dozens of random fantasy football and work chat groups might go away, you might still be deluged with a series of requests for said groups.
The update comes in response to user feedback over being spammed with unwanted group adds and further bolsters the app’s feature set, which now also includes the ability to unsend WhatsApp messages.
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Is there a way to stop random people from adding me to WhatsApp groups? The app is unusable to me due to this…
— Carl Pei (@getpeid) March 9, 2017
WhatsApp also said that some users will get the update today, provided they’re using the latest version of the app, but that global rollout will take a few weeks to complete.
This will likely be an annoyance to many keen to start utilising the handy new WhatsApp feature.
We can confirm it hadn’t landed in WhatsApp on one of our iOS handsets in the UK at time of publication, but your mileage may vary depending on device and location.
Let us know if the new WhatsApp group privacy feature has landed on your device by tweeting us @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
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.
Professional conduct
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.
