WhatsApp’s new privacy control feature has rolled out to more users. The updated feature will provide users greater control over who can view or access their profile photo, About, Last Seen, and Status. The update was first rolled out to beta testers sometimes last year, but is now available to every user.
Prior to the update, users could choose to have their Status, Last Seen, and About info visible to limited number of people. The new update, however, allows you to choose from a number of options and possibilities including “My contacts except…” It means you can choose to allow all your contacts to view your profile photo, Status, with the exception of some users.
The update was announced by WhatsApp via Twitter, with a link to the app’s FAQ page where you can find out more about the privacy feature.
To get started, click on the three-dot menu in the upper right corner and navigate to Account > Privacy where you will find new additions to the Privacy menu.
In related news, WhatsApp has announced a few new changes to group calls—you can now mute certain individual in group calls. This is particularly handy when someone forgets or deliberately unmute himself during a group call.
Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp at Meta announced this and other new additions to group calls via Twitter on Thursday. Recall that the chat app recently upped the number of participants in a group chat to 512; and this new update could be very useful when it comes to controlling how a group call goes.
Also, WhatsApp has added a new indicator so that you can easily see when others join large group calls. The indicator is a useful addition especially in terms of privacy and security. You want to be sure no intruder gains access to your group chat.
A couple of days ago, we told you that the 256-cap for group members will soon be expanded to accommodate 512 members. Not everyone is comfortable being in a group with 255 other people; and that is about to get even bigger. For some users, however, it is something to cheer about.
The feature has been in beta for a couple of weeks, but is now widely available to more users as reported by WABetaInfo. You can find out if the feature is live on your WhatsApp version by creating a new group, selecting a participant, and see what it says at the top of your screen.
