WhatsApp is making changes to give people more privacy and control, with a slew of new features rolling out to users soon.
Users of the Meta-owned messaging app will be able to mute group chats, choose who can see them when they’re online, and prevent screenshots of “view once” messages.
These changes are aimed at safeguarding users’ privacy, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“New privacy features coming to WhatsApp: Leave group chats without notifying everyone, control who can see when you’re online, and prevent screenshots from showing after messages,” he said.
“We will continue to build new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations.”
Leave WhatsApp group chats on silent
If you’ve been doing too much group chat but are too embarrassed to leave, there’s good news; soon you’ll be able to avoid social awkwardness by leaving the chat without letting everyone know.
Currently, WhatsApp notifies members of a group chat when someone leaves or is removed. But with the new change, which will begin rolling out to all users this month, only group administrators will be notified if someone leaves.
WhatsApp will also introduce the ability for users to select who they can and cannot see when they are online. This new feature will begin rolling out to all users this month.
Another new feature will be the ability to block screenshots of the platform’s “view once” messages.
Users can now send ephemeral photos and videos, which disappear from the chat once they’ve been opened. WhatsApp said it would soon enable screenshot blocking for these messages.
“We are currently testing this feature and are excited to release it to users soon,” the platform said in a blog post.
More time to delete WhatsApp messages
In addition, WhatsApp also announced that users will now have much more time to delete messages they regret sending.
“Rethinking your message? You’ll now have a little over two days to delete your messages from your chats after you hit send,” WhatsApp announced on social media.
That’s a lot longer than the hour or so it took people to change their minds.