WhatsApp is now rolling out privacy features that enable users to hide their Last Seen status, profile photo and ‘about’ page from certain contacts.
The updated settings add a ‘My Contacts Except…’ option to the privacy section, joining the existing ‘Everyone’, ‘My Contacts’ and ‘Nobody’ options.
“Your last seen, profile photo, about, or status will be available to your contacts from your address book, except those you exclude,” WhatsApp writes on the updated FAQ page.
‘My Contacts Except…’ Will definitely be handy if you have that one friend who always points out when you’ve been online and haven’t replied to a message.
It could also be useful from a personal safety point of view too, for people who’re a little bit unsure about a contact’s motives. They’ll now have more granular control over who sees what, rather than simply selecting all contacts or none.
There is a caveat though. As before, if you prevent a particular contact from viewing any of those personal details, you won’t be able to view theirs either. Still, being able to select from certain contacts certainly makes this an easier pill to swallow than losing access to everyone’s last seen status in order to protect your own.
The roll out comes after it emerged in testing within the WhatsApp beta apps way back in September 2021, so it’s good to see the Meta-owned company launch it for iOS and Android consumers.
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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.
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.
