WhatsApp introduces new privacy feature

By
Web Desk
WhatsApp app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021 — REUTERS
WhatsApp app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021 — REUTERS

  • WhatsApp launches new privacy feature to make it possible to disable privacy settings for specific contacts.
  • This feature will be available in a future update on WhatsApp beta for Android 2.21.20.10.
  • To avail new update, users should follow these steps: "Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen > Nobody."


Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp on Wednesday launched a new privacy feature to make it possible to disable privacy settings for specific contacts.

WhatsApp announced this news on its official Twitter handle. The messaging portal wrote: "Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen > Nobody."

Earlier, WABetaInfo — the main independent portal where you can discover news and real-time updates about WhatsApp — on Twitter had hinted towards this update.

This feature will be available in a future update on WhatsApp beta for Android 2.21.20.10.

Previously, the Facebook-owned messaging app had three privacy settings (last seen, profile picture, about) with three options (everyone, my contacts, nobody) to manage these settings.

This meant that, if you didn’t want a specific contact to see your last seen, you had to set the privacy setting of your last seen to “nobody”.

However, the new update has introduced another option called "my contacts except…", so you can now enable your last seen back, and you can disable it for specific contacts.

A screenshot of WhatsApps new update to privacy settings looks like this on WhatsApp for Android. — WABetaInfo
A screenshot of WhatsApp's new update to privacy settings looks like this on WhatsApp for Android. — WABetaInfo

As you can see in this screenshot, the “My contact except…” option will look like this and will be now available in a future update on WhatsApp beta for Android 2.21.20.10, however, it will need an active Internet connection to configure it, WABetaInfo reported.