WhatsApp solves three of the biggest longstanding problems faced by users with these new features – Times of India

WhatsApp is bringing three new privacy features to users aimed to give users more control over their conversations and added layers of protection when messaging. “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,” said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO, Meta.
Three new WhatsApp features and how they work
Leave Groups Silently: Users will be able to exit a group privately without having to notify everyone. Now, instead of notifying the full group when leaving, only the admins will be notified. This feature starts to roll out to all users this month.
Choose who can see when you are online: Seeing when friends or family are online helps users feel connected to one another, but everyone has had times when they wanted to check their WhatsApp privately. For the times you want to keep your online presence private, WhatsApp is introducing the ability to select who can and can’t see when you’re online. This feature too will start rolling out to all users this month.
Screenshot blocking for view once messages: View Once is already a popular way to share photos or media that don’t need to have a permanent digital record. Now WhatsApp is enabling screenshot blocking for View Once messages for an added layer of protection. The company is presently testing this feature and will be rolled out to users soon.
Ami Vora, Head of Product at WhatsApp, said, “At WhatsApp, we’re focused on building product features that empower people to have more control and privacy over their messages. Over the years, we’ve added interlocking layers of protection to help keep their conversations secure, and the new features is one way we continue to deliver on our commitment to keep messages private. No other global messaging service at this scale provides this level of security for their users’ messages, media, voice messages, video calls, and chat backups. We believe WhatsApp is the most secure place to have a private conversation. And to spread the word about these new features, we’re also kicking off a global campaign, starting with the UK and India, to educate people about how we work to protect their private conversations on WhatsApp.”
New features backed by privacy study, says WhatsApp
The introduction of these new features are backed by a new WhatsApp privacy study that the company says dives deeper into understanding the role of privacy when having meaningful conversations while messaging. Some of the findings from the global study are as follows:
⦁ 72% of people value being able to speak in an honest, unfiltered way — but more than 47% are only comfortable doing this in a safe, private space. They are particularly cautious online, ranking privacy in their private messages as most important — compared to emails, texts or social media.
⦁ For the times when you need more privacy, 51% prefer to stay hidden online to choose who they want to talk to.
⦁ 91% of people who are aware of blocking features believe they are important.