Some fantastic news is coming in a future update of WhatsApp beta for Android, iOS, and Desktop. After announcing that WhatsApp is developing some major features such as the possibility to edit text messages, the company is now working on the ability to hide the online status for a future update of the app!
| Common questions | Answers |
|---|---|
| Name of the feature? | Who can see when I'm online |
| Status? | Under development |
| Availability? | WhatsApp is working on bringing this feature in a future release of the app. |
| I've installed this update but I cannot hide my online status. Why? | This feature is under development so it cannot be released to beta testers since it is not ready, but you can discover a preview in this article. |
| Previous news? | WhatsApp beta for Android 2.22.15.8: what’s new? WhatsApp is updating the time limit to delete messages for everyone |
WHO CAN SEE WHEN I'M ONLINE
Over the years, a lot of users requested to be able to hide their online status. There may be different reasons why people want to use WhatsApp in stealth mode: for example, some users want to use WhatsApp without being disturbed by other people, or they feel stalked by someone. We know a lot of people want this feature, so we also created a concept to disable the online status last year, that's a good way to share feedback with WhatsApp.
And yes, if you're here you already know what the announcement is about: WhatsApp is finally listening to user feedback by developing a feature that lets users choose who can see when they are online on WhatsApp, available in a future update!
As you can see in this screenshot, it will be possible to configure who can see when we are online right within our last seen settings thanks to two new options: "Everyone" and "Same as Last Seen". For example, if you choose "My contacts" for "Last Seen" and "Same as Last Seen" for "online", it means non-contacts won't be able to see when you're online.
Last year, WhatsApp started automatically hiding the last seen to contacts you never chatted with, in order to prevent third-party apps from monitoring our last seen and online status. Unfortunately, people that we already chatted with could still see when we were online but thanks to the new privacy setting "who can see when I'm online", they won't be able to do it anymore.
Note that, even if the screenshot is taken during the development of WhatsApp beta for iOS, WhatsApp is planning to introduce the same feature in a future update of WhatsApp beta for Android and Desktop beta as well.
Unfortunately, this feature is under development so we do not know the details about when it will be released to the public. We will inform you in a new post when we discover further information about the release of this feature in a future update, so be sure to frequently visit this website!
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