Reinforcing the importance of digital safety, WhatsApp has recently launched a safety campaign ‘Stay safe with WhatsApp’ in an effort to raise awareness around its existing safety tools and product features that empower people to take control of their online safety.
As per the company, the safety campaign focuses on educating users on product features that help them stay safe from online scams, frauds and account-compromising threats. According to WhatsApp one of the easiest ways to ensure you remain safe and protected at all times is to secure your WhatsApp account. From enabling two-step verification to ensuring your personal information remains private, here are WhatsApp’s top safety features to safeguard your WhatsApp account.
WhatsApp allows users to add an extra layer of security to their account by enabling the Two-Step Verification feature, which requires a six-digit PIN when resetting and verifying your WhatsApp account. This is helpful in case a SIM card gets stolen or if the phone is compromised. Never share your PIN with anyone and if you receive an email to reset the two-step verification PIN or registration code but didn’t request this, do not click on the link.
However, users can control their personal details such as – Profile Photo, Last Seen, Online status, About, Status, and who sees it – everyone, contacts only, select contacts, or no one. You can also control your online presence by selecting who can and can’t see when you’re online, for the times you want to keep your online presence private. Keeping your personal details visible to only your contacts can help safeguard your account against bad actors.
Additionally, WhatsApp’s privacy setting and group invite system allow users to decide who can add them to groups, increasing user privacy and preventing people from adding you to groups you don’t want to be a part of.
Furthermore, users can review linked devices with your WhatsApp account on a regular basis, this will show you a list of all the devices from which your account has been accessed.