There’s some privacy news on WhatsApp. Because in the app there will be a block list for contacts for the first time. Group chats are also getting new features. An overview.
WhatsApp has screwed on its privacy settings and announced an innovation on Twitter. Because in order to “protect the privacy of users even better online”, the app introduces “new options for data protection settings”.
Specifically, it’s about the settings where users can specify who can see their profile photo, info, status and “last seen”.
The new privacy at WhatsApp in detail
So far, WhatsApp users can choose from three categories for their privacy settings. So you can set that either everyone, only the contacts in their own phone book or nobody can see the information. WhatsApp has now expanded this selection, as it says on Twitter.
🔒 To further protect your privacy online, we’re rolling out new options to your privacy control settings 🔒
Now you can select who from your contact list can see your Profile Photo, About, and Last Seen status. For more information follow this link: https://t.co/UGMCx2n70h
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) June 15, 2022
In the future, users will also be able to regulate their privacy on WhatsApp via a block list. You can now select a fourth option in the new area, namely “My contacts except…”.
This allows users to exclude individual contacts from their address book. They then no longer have access to the status or the profile picture, for example.
However, it is not possible to turn the tables – as is the case, for example, with Instagram’s “close friends” option. Users cannot therefore block all contacts and only select their favourites.
Innovations for group chats
Groups popular on WhatsApp are also getting some new features. For example, individual users can be specifically muted in the future. In addition, participants can write messages to other users from their group call in the future. They don’t have to leave the call and don’t miss anything.
Another innovation concerns new participants coming into the call. If another person joins in during an ongoing call, the other users will be informed about this via a banner. However, this only occurs if there is no more space on the screen because too many participants are already switched on.
WhatsApp thus takes over functions that are already known from other video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Skype. So the platform could take the next step to position itself better for business customers.
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Source: https://www.basicthinking.de/blog/2022/06/21/privatsphaere-bei-whatsapp-blockliste/
