WhatsApp has recently been under the spotlight on privacy issues since the emergence of the Pegasus Spyware scandal that exploits Indian human rights activists and top government officials. Now, although the investigation into Pegasus spyware is still ongoing, WhatsApp’s Top 5 Privacy Features for its users. In addition, there are a few other features on WhatsApp that help you keep it very private. Let’s take a look!
Block People from Adding You to Random Groups
Do you know those annoying moments when one of your contacts puts you in a random group where you didn’t want to be added? However, WhatsApp has recently unveiled its updated group privacy settings worldwide. These new features give users the freedom to decide who among their WhatsApp contacts can add in groups. The updated group privacy feature gives users a new “external contact” option instead of the “no one” option that was previously available.
To enable this privacy setting, all you have to do is select Account> Privacy> Groups where you will see the option “out of touch” between “everyone” and “my contacts”. For users who have selected the “offline” option, administrators will be required to send these users a private invitation for each chat.
Set Fingerprint Lock to Prevent Unwanted Access
Although WhatsApp is currently fighting the Israeli war, the NSO group, which is accused of selling Pegasus software. Conversation giant has managed to unleash its global fingerprint lock for Android users. What the WhatsApp fingerprint lock lock does is that it allows you to add fingerprints to your account to prevent others from accessing your WhatsApp without having to unlock it.
The fingerprint verification feature for Android users was first made available to beta users back in August this year. This is a good feature as even if someone gets their hand on your security passcode or pattern, your WhatsApp conversations will still be secure due to lock fingerprints. All you have to do is go to settings, select an account, privacy, and then select the “Fingerprint key” option. For iOS users, the fingerprint lock feature has been available since February this year.
Prevent People From Knowing You Have Read Their Message
Another way to ensure that your WhatsApp is confidential as it gets locked up read receipts. Reading receipts for the “green cold” basically let the user know if someone has read his or her message or not. If both markers are blue, it means someone has read your message. It also means that the person has opened his or her “open” reading receipts. However, if you do not want anyone to know that you have read their message, you can keep the receipt option read “closed”.
To turn off “read receipts”, simply go to Settings> Accounts> and turn off “read receipts”. However, keep in mind that this does not work in groups and even though the read receipt option is turned off, people will be able to know whether you have read group messages or not.
Select Who Can See Your Profile Image, Status
If you are on WhatsApp, you probably have your WhatsApp profile picture on it and you may also upload status stories from time to time to share with your friends and family. Most of the time, however, add some contacts that we do not always want to see our status or profile picture. And WhatsApp understands that, which is why you can choose who sees your profile picture, status story on WhatsApp. WHATSAPP HIDDEN FEATURES 2022
Just go to Settings> Account> Privacy> Profile Image, then select “Everyone”, “My Contacts” and “No one”. There is also an option to change who can view your status updates on the privacy tab. By default, you can find three options, “contacts”, “external contacts…”, and “Only share with