Popular messaging application WhatsApp has rolled out three new features towards further securing the privacy of its users. People using the app will now be able to exist groups silently, choose who can see them online and disable screenshots for certain kinds of messages.
WhatsApp, owned by Meta, introduced the three new features on Monday and Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg announced them in a Facebook post.
An official update by WhatsApp on its website stated that from this month, whenever a user exists a group, only the group administrator will get a notification about it, as opposed to the entire group.
The second feature, where users can choose who can see them online, is expected to be a runaway hit, as numerous users have complained of the lack of privacy in this regard.
“Seeing when friends or family are online helps us feel connected to one another, but we’ve all had times when we wanted to check our WhatsApp privately. For the moments you want to keep your online presence private, we’re introducing the ability to select who can and can’t see when you’re online. This will start rolling out to all users this month,” WhatsApp’s official update said.
WhatsApp had recently introduced View-Once messages, where the messages will self destruct after being viewed once by their recipients. The third update is one more step towards boosting privacy in this directions, giving the user the option of disabling screenshots for View Once messages. Effectively, this means sensitive information sent through View Once messages can no longer be screenshotted and hence never shared with anyone else. WhatsApp is testing this feature now and is expected to roll it out soon.
“To spread the word about these new layers of protection, we’re also kicking off a campaign to educate people about the new features and our continued commitment to protecting your private conversations on WhatsApp. We hope people enjoy getting to use these new features and benefit from several options that help you keep your messages secure. We look forward to your feedback on what to build next,” WhatsApp stated.
