9 simple WhatsApp privacy features everyone should enable
WhatsApp started as a standard messaging app to help people stay in touch with friends and family. It eventually became an all-in-one social platform with features like stories, communities, avatars, WhatsApp Business, group calls, and WhatsApp Payments. The Facebook-owned company has also worked on privacy add-ons to keep prying eyes away from your WhatsApp account.
Here are the best WhatsApp privacy features. Anyone with access to your phone number can reach you on WhatsApp. While you can’t prevent unknown people or businesses from contacting you on WhatsApp, you can shield your personal information with the right tweaks. These privacy features are available on iPhones and thetop budget Android phones.
1. Enable two-step verification
Similar to major social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, WhatsApp supports two-step verification to add an extra security layer to your account. Here’s how to enable two-step verification in WhatsApp.
We recommend saving your WhatsApp PIN to your preferredpassword manager. From now on, WhatsApp will require a PIN when registering your phone number on the platform again.
2. Turn on the end-to-end encrypted backup
While WhatsApp enables end-to-end encryption for personal messages, it disables the same for backups. When you enable end-to-end encryption for WhatsApp backups, no one (even WhatsApp) can access it.
If you forget your password and lose your phone, WhatsApp can’t help you recover your backup. Alternatively, you can generate a 64-digit encryption key. You should store the 64-digit key somewhere safe.
3. Hide your last seen and online status
Is someone watching your last seen and online status on WhatsApp? you could hide your last seen and online status from selected contacts or everyone on WhatsApp.
If you don’t share your last seen and online, you won’t be able to see other people’s last seen and online.
Secure your privacy over WhatsApp with this handy feature
4. Hide your profile photo from selected contacts
Do some annoying contacts share unnecessary comments on your WhatsApp profile picture? You can follow the steps below to hide your profile photo from selected contacts.
5. Hide your status from specific contacts
By default, WhatsApp makes your status visible to all your contacts. You can hide your status from selected contacts from the Privacy menu. After all, you won’t want your boss to check your Disneyland photos on sick leave.
6. Disable read receipts
WhatsApp shows blue checkmarks to recipients when you read their messages. You can disable read receipts and glance over new messages without leaving a trail.
7. Enable biometric protection
WhatsApp lets you protect the app with biometrics. When you enable the option from the Privacy menu, you need to use your fingerprint (Android) or Face ID (iPhone) to access messages.
8. Stop others from adding you to WhatsApp groups
Are you tired of being added to annoying family or business groups? Follow the steps below to exclude selected contacts from adding you to WhatsApp groups.
The selected contacts won’t be able to add you to any WhatsApp group.
9. Report and block annoying contacts on WhatsApp
With growing popularity among users, WhatsApp has become the preferred place for spammers. You can check our dedicated post toblock, report, and delete spam on WhatsApp.
Keep prying eyes away from WhatsApp
Your ideal WhatsApp experience isn’t limited to Android or iOS. With the native app on Windows and macOS, you can use WhatsApp from your desktop or laptop. Apart from privacy features, WhatsApp is packed with useful tips.Read our dedicated post to learn these tricks.
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