There is news about privacy on WhatsApp. For the first time, there will be a block list for contacts in the app. Group chats will also get new functions. An overview.
WhatsApp has tweaked its privacy settings and announced a new feature on Twitter. In order to “better protect the privacy of users online”, the app is “introducing new options for privacy settings”.
Specifically, the settings allow users to determine who can see their profile photo, info, status, and “last online.
The new privacy settings on WhatsApp in detail
Until now, WhatsApp users have been able to choose from three categories for their privacy settings. So they can set that either everyone, only the contacts in their own phone book or no one can see the information. WhatsApp has now expanded this selection, as it says on Twitter.
In the future, users will also be able to control their privacy on WhatsApp via a block list. They can now also select a fourth option in the new area, namely “My contacts except …”.
This allows users to exclude individual contacts from their address book. They will then no longer have access to the status or the profile picture, for example.
However, it is not possible to turn the tables – as is the case with Instagram’s “Close friends” option, for example. Users can therefore not block all contacts and only select their favorites.
Innovations for group chats
WhatsApp’s popular groups are also getting some new features. For example, individual users can be specifically muted in the future. In addition, participants will be able to write messages to other users from their group call in the future. They don’t have to leave the call and won’t miss anything.
Another new feature concerns new subscribers joining the call. If a person joins the call while it is in progress, the other users are informed of this via a banner. However, this only happens when there is no more room on the screen because too many participants are already connected.
WhatsApp thus takes over functions that are already known from other video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Skype. Thus, the platform could take the next step to better position itself for business customers.
