WhatsApp Privacy Features You Should Turn On Today

WhatsApp is one of the most used instant messaging apps, with over 500 million active users in India. While it's great for staying connected, it's also important to protect your privacy while using it. For that, WhatsApp offers several built-in features.

By turning on a few simple settings, you can enhance your privacy and make your messaging experience much safer. In this article, we have listed a few tips for managing and protecting your privacy.

Advanced Chat Privacy

WhatsApp recently introduced a new layer of privacy called "Advanced Chat Privacy." Available in both chats and groups, this feature helps prevent others from taking content outside of WhatsApp. When it's enabled, you can block others from exporting chats, auto-downloading media to their phone, and using messages for AI features.

To enable it, first tap on the chat name, then Advanced Chat Privacy. This is the first version of this feature, and WhatsApp is planning to add more features to it.

End-to-end Encrypted Backup

WhatsApp already protects your chats with end-to-end encryption, which means only you and the person you're talking to can read your messages. Now, you can take it a step further by securing your cloud backups too. With end-to-end encrypted backups, your messages and media stored on Google Drive (Android) or iCloud (iPhone) are locked with a password or a unique 64-digit encryption key.

This added layer of security ensures that only you can access your chats, not even WhatsApp, Google, or Apple. You can also change your password anytime, as long as you still have access to your WhatsApp account and your current password or key.

To turn on end-to-end encrypted backups, follow these steps:

Step 1: First, go to Settings > Chats > Chat Backup.

Step 2: Now, tap End-to-end encrypted backup.

Step 3: Then tap turn on and follow the prompts to create a password or use your 64-digit encryption key.

Step 4: Finally, tap create or generate.

Restrict Who Can Add You to New Groups

If you are facing the problem of people adding you to WhatsApp groups without asking. WhatsApp has a feature that lets you decide who can add you to groups.

For that -

Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your phone. Now, tap on the three dots in the top right corner (for Android) or go to Settings (for iPhone).

Step 2: Click on Privacy and then Groups.

Step 3: You will see three options:
Everyone - Anyone can add you to the group.
My Contacts - Only people saved in your contacts can add you.
Except for my contacts... - You can choose specific contacts who cannot add you.

Step 5: Now, select My Contacts or Except for my contacts and tap Done. By doing this, you will ensure that strangers cannot add you to any WhatsApp group without your permission.

Hide Last Seen and Online Status

As most of us are aware of these features, WhatsApp allows you to hide your last seen and online status. So if you don't want your friends to see your last seen, you can go to Settings > Privacy > Last seen and online and choose whether to hide it from specific contacts or from everyone. You can even set it to "Nobody" so that no one can see your online status.

Send View Once Media

With the View Once feature, you can send photos, voice messages, and videos that disappear from the chat once the recipient opens them. To do this, simply send a photo or video in a chat, then tap the "1" icon at the bottom of the screen before sending. That way, they won't be able to forward, save, star, or share your media, ensuring another layer of privacy.