WhatsApp has always prided itself on the end-to-end encryption it uses to protect its messages. Privacy is a big deal these days and the world’s biggest messaging app has always prided itself on being a messaging app you can trust. Now, however, it looks like the app wants to boost its privacy credentials even further as Mark Zuckerberg has announced a big privacy push that is coming to WhatsApp. Let’s take a look at the details.
Mark Zuckerberg has taken to Facebook to announce a slew of new privacy features coming to WhatsApp. We have already seen many of these features on other messaging services, but it is refreshing to see them all coming to WhatsApp.
In his Facebook post, Zuckerberg said:
“New privacy features coming to WhatsApp: exit group chats without notifying everyone, control who can see when you’re online, and prevent screenshots on view once messages. We’ll keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations.”
These are features reminiscent of former unique selling points for messaging apps and social networks like Snapchat and Telegram.
We’ve been reporting extensively on the new privacy-boosting features coming to WhatsApp for quite some time now. On top of the features mentioned in Zuckerberg’s message, WhatsApp also has a more private way of sharing images in the pipeline, and we covered the ability to prevent other people from seeing your online status a while back too.
Interestingly, the feature Zuckerberg mentions about leaving groups without letting other users know will also come with a past participants feature, which will show all the past participants in a group chat from the last 60 days. This means that while users won’t get a message in the chat about you leaving the group, they will be able to find out if you are a past participant by doing a little digging.
These are interesting moves from WhatsApp. Make sure to bookmark our WhatsApp News page and subscribe to push notifications to ensure you are always up to date with the latest news and updates.
Image via: WABetaInfo
