WhatsApp is releasing a slew of new features that will help you to keep your activity private
Numerous new features that will aid in maintaining the secrecy of your activities are being introduced by WhatsApp. This includes the ability to quit group conversations secretly and the ability to stop anyone from screenshotting your communications. The capability to prevent screenshotting of WhatsApp messages that are sent with View Once is our favorite recently announced feature. These messages, which resemble Snapchat, are intended to vanish after being read, but if someone screenshots one, it may stay online longer than you planned.
Even though the function has its limitations and you can’t stop someone from using a second device to take a screenshot or a different screenshot tool to get around the restriction, it should make it more difficult for people to keep messages that you intended to have expired. The fact that it is still under testing and won’t be made available to the general public for some time is the other drawback at the moment. The privacy protections of our choice for the second-best encrypted messaging app in 2022 will be improved by the addition of this feature, and maybe one day all WhatsApp chats will have to follow the rule.
You will be able to leave group conversations once the upgrade is live without letting anyone know. You might be stuck with a chat screen full of old posts if you have to announce your final nope out to a high school group chat because of the embarrassment involved. Soon you’ll be able to slip out a back door and wave a nearly silent goodbye, never to be seen in the group conversation again. The only people who will be aware of your departure will be group admins, which isn’t the ideal answer but is an improvement over what we currently have.
The upgrade will also let you customize who can see the notifications that typically appear beneath your name in direct messages and show when you were last online. You have the option to disclose your WhatsApp usage to everyone, just your contacts, to turn it off entirely, or to only some of your contacts. The new capabilities are ideal if you want to keep your WhatsApp activity private or if you want to hide it from specific individuals. All of these changes occur before Apple releases iOS 16, which is expected to significantly enhance its iMessage service. Apple’s own-brand texting is probably utilizing this chance to remind iPhone 13 owners of the benefits of switching from Apple’s own-brand texting to its WhatsApp service.