WhatsApp is building new ways to increase user privacy and security in order to improve their experience while using the app. Today, Mark Zuckerberg is sharing a very important announcement on Facebook about three new privacy features to release to users on WhatsApp beta for Android, iOS, and Desktop!
| Common questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Name of the feature? | Past group participants, who can see when you're online, screenshot blocking for view once |
| Status? | Rolling out |
| Compatibility? | WhatsApp beta for Android 2.22.17.24 and WhatsApp beta for iOS 22.16.0.77 are marked as compatible updates, but please read below to discover more details about the availability of some features. |
| I've installed this update but I don't see one or more of these features. Why? | Even if you're on a compatible build, some features may require a future update that will likely be released this month. |
| Previous news? | WhatsApp is working on a communities tab on Desktop! |
PRIVACY UPDATES ON WHATSAPP
Mark Zuckerberg is sharing very important information on Facebook about the development of three new privacy features on WhatsApp: exit group chats without notifying group members, control who can see when you're online on WhatsApp, and prevent screenshots on view once messages.
In addition, WhatsApp is now launching a new global campaign starting in India and U.K. (more countries will be following later) in order to inform users about new features and how WhatsApp secures their experience by using different layers of protections thanks to their privacy features: end-to-end encryption, two-step verification, end-to-end encrypted chat backup, and more.
The focus of their campaign is also to educate people to understand what the real security is: it is important to protect users not only when the information is sent but even when it's stored (for example, by using end-to-end encrypted backups).
PAST PARTICIPANTS
We already shared news about the ability to view past participants last week: in fact, the feature has been released to users that installed the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.22.17.21 and WhatsApp beta for iOS 22.16.0.77 updates. Thanks to past participants, you can view a list of all people who left or were removed from a group in the last 60 days.
As we said in our previous stories, Mark Zuckerberg also announces that when someone leaves a group chat, the event is no longer notified to all members (except group admins) by using a system message within the chat. So instead of notifying the whole group about this event, only group admins can see it due to moderation reasons.
This feature has already been released to some beta testers on Android and iOS, and it's coming for more users this month.
WHO CAN SEE WHEN YOU'RE ONLINE
In the article about the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.22.16.12 update, we posted news about the ability to control who can see when we're online on WhatsApp. This feature was under development on Android and iOS but Mark Zuckerberg is finally announcing the feature today!
Thanks to the new privacy setting, you will have more control over who can see when you're using WhatsApp and when you don't want everyone being able to see your online presence, you can choose the option "Same as Last Seen".
This feature will finally start to be released to users this month, so be sure to keep your version of WhatsApp up to date. As always, we will notify users when there is a compatible build.
SCREENSHOT BLOCKING
After releasing the ability to send view once images and videos last year, a lot of users complained because it was still possible to take screenshots and record videos for them. We also posted an article to inform people why WhatsApp didn't block screenshots for this feature, but that's old news: in fact, this is another feature announced by Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook today. In particular, WhatsApp is listening to user feedback by developing a very good screenshot blocking method to add an extra-layer of privacy when sharing view once images and videos.
As you can see in this screenshot, it will no longer be possible to take a screenshot to a view once image or video.
Note that the feature to prevent people from taking screenshots and recording video captures is only limited to view once images and videos: in fact, you can still take screenshots of your conversations, even if they contain some disappearing messages, at the moment. As always, when you send a view once photo or video, WhatsApp will inform you that people may still get them by using a secondary phone or camera, so it is always important to be careful when using this feature: it's up to you. In addition, there isn't a system to inform the sender when someone attempted to take a screenshot to their view once image and video because the attempt to take a screenshot will be automatically blocked.
This is another feature that will be released to some users soon, but a more accurate release date is not available at the moment.
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