WhatsApp is adding new privacy options, including screenshot blocking and stealth mode – TechCrunch

WhatsApp is introducing a series of privacy-related tweaks to the messaging app, the company announced on Tuesday. The globally popular messaging service owned by Meta says the changes are intended to give users more control over their experience and introduce “extra layers” to protect their information. their private communications.

WhatsApp will introduce an option for users to use the app privately without being explicitly online, what it calls “online presence control”. The feature, which will roll out to everyone this month, will allow WhatsApp users to manage which contacts can see their online status while hiding it from others. Your contact list can see your online status without limit and you can swap people in and out at any time. The company says that the update will come to both their desktop and mobile apps.

The company is also testing a screenshot blocking feature for Message “see once”, disappears after being opened once. WhatsApp introduced a disappearing media option a year ago, reminding users at the time that they wouldn’t be able to tell if the recipient was saving any shared photos and videos as screenshots. or not. The feature is currently in beta, but the company hopes to roll it out to a wide range of users soon. (It’s worth remembering that people can still take screenshots of themselves with another device, which should make you think twice about getting too comfortable on apps where messaging is gone.)

The last change is another small quality of life update, but one that’s notable enough. This month, WhatsApp will allow users to leave groups privately without sending a mass notification that they have bailed. Group admins will still receive notifications, but overall, this change should make moving through groups on the app more fluid and less daunting. This change will also roll out to both desktop and mobile versions of the app.

WhatsApp’s head of product Ami Vora described the additions as an enhancement to the app’s “interlocking layers of protection”, which aims to solidify its status as a messaging option. prominently encrypted.

The company has made other efforts over the years. Last fall, it closed a possible weakness in its encrypted messaging service, adding end-to-end encryption for backups stored in the cloud.

“We will continue to build new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as live chat,” said Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. about new features.

The company’s own messaging hasn’t always been coherent: A confusing privacy policy update in early 2021 prompted a backlash, which takes users to rival apps. That same update is still reverberating over a year later, and the European Commission has issued it official investigation concerned about the app’s consumer protections earlier this year.