WhatsApp is working to further improve its privacy protection features. The developers of the popular messaging app are coming up with a new option that will allow you to hide your online status from all other users of the platform.
There can be many reasons why you do not want to let people know if you are online – for example, because you intend to use the app without being disturbed by other contacts – and the new option spotted in the settings of a version of WhatsApp currently in development will allow you to meet these needs.
The first details on how it works are revealed by the colleagues of WABetaInfo: in the screenshot shared by the source it is possible to see the Last Access & Online screen (present in the Privacy section of the settings) which contains both the current subsection “Who can see my last access “, is the new” Who can see when I’m online “.
The user can then decide to show their online status to ” Everyone ” or activate the ” How can see my last login ” option. In the second case, the same setting as in the first subsection will be applied, ie “Everyone”, “My contacts”, “My contacts except” and “None”. For example, if you choose “My contacts”, your online status will be hidden from everyone except those who are within your circle of contacts; for maximum privacy, there will be the “None” option
Sharing your online status will still be necessary to see which other users are online – just as it already is for last login information (without sharing this information, you cannot see the last login of other users).
It is worth specifying that the advances described are derived from a beta version of WhatsApp for iOS, but a similar function will also be introduced in the beta for Android and desktop systems. However, it is not possible to make predictions on the timing: even if the screen is present, the option cannot yet be activated even on iOS. We will therefore have to be patient, as with other functions still under development (see also the possibility of using an avatar during video calls).
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