On Tuesday, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced three important privacy features in WhatsApp, giving users more control over their conversations and extra protection when messaging. With the new features, WhatsApp users can exit group chats without notifying everyone, control who can view when you’re online, and prevent screenshots on view once messages.
The news was announced by the company on Twitter. Their tweet reads, “Your privacy deserves more protection. That’s why we’re excited to announce three new layers of security to wrap your messages in.” The CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that they’ll keep building new ways to protect the users’ messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations.
The new privacy options are as follows
- Now, instead of notifying the full group when leaving, only the admins will be notified. This feature starts to roll out to all users this month.
- You can select who can and can’t see when you’re online. This feature will be introduced within days.
- The messaging platform will enable screenshot blocking for ‘View Once’ messages to provide extra protection. This feature is undergoing some tests and will be rolled out within a short time.
The Head of Product at WhatsApp, Ami Vora said, “Over the years, we’ve added interlocking layers of protection to help keep conversations secure, and the new features are one way we continue to deliver on our decision to keep messages private. We’re also kicking off a global campaign to spread the word about these new features, starting with the UK and India, to educate people about how we work to secure their private conversations on WhatsApp.”