WhatsApp reportedly enabled a new privacy measure that hides users’ last seen and online status from unknown contacts.
“To improve the privacy and security of our users, we’re making it harder for people you don’t know and haven’t chatted with [to see] your last seen and online presence on WhatsApp,” according to a company support message, first shared on Twitter, then published by WABetaInfo.
The update—which won’t affect conversations with family, friends, or businesses you’ve previously messaged—seems to be aimed at third-party apps that log the “Last Seen” and online status of selected contacts.
Before, users had to dig in their settings to manually hide such activity from strangers. Now, the feature is WhatsApp’s default. You can still, however, manage who can see when you were last online. Visit Settings > Account > Privacy to specify “Everyone,” “My Contacts,” or “Nobody.” The previously reported “My Contacts Except…” function does not appear to be an option.
Privacy has been at the top of WhatsApp’s to-do list in 2021. The company early this year introduced a new policy, which, mired by poor communication, prompted a backlash regarding how much personal data is shared with parent company Facebook. WhatsApp eventually began limiting features for those who don’t accept, but promised no one’s account would be deleted.
In October, it rolled out end-to-end encrypted backups, which can be secured with a password or 64-digit encryption key. And just last week added the option to make disappearing messages the system default. Current time duration options include 24 hours, one week, or 90 days.
