WhatsApp just introduced some important security features including the option to block online status it was recently shown in beta, TechCrunch reported. The ultimate aim is to make WhatsApp “as private and secure as live chats,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. Facebook post.
The new “online presence control” feature allows you to send messages while offline. That provides a different level of privacy than possibility hide your “last seen” status from specific contacts, a feature introduced earlier this year.
You can control this feature in detail, deciding which contacts can see your online status and which can’t. There are no limits and you can swap people in and out at any time. The feature will roll out to all users on desktop and mobile devices, later this month.
WhatsApp is also testing a screenshot blocking feature for watch once the message disappears after one view. When those messages were introduced last year, Meta said that you should still be cautious because you won’t know if someone has taken a screenshot of them. A new feature that allows you to block such screenshots is currently being tested, but the company hopes to roll it out to all users soon.
With the final change, you can leave the group privately without mass notification to others that you’re gone – although the group admin will still be notified. That should save some fiddling when it rolls out to desktop and mobile apps, also later this month.
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