From sending across that grocery list to asking for film recommendations from our friends, WhatsApp has become our go-to place for all kinds of conversation with our friends, family, connections, and even acquaintances. But with increased usage of the messaging platform, privacy has become a growing concern. However, it is to be noted that the conversations one engage in on the platform are all end-to-end encrypted, which means that nobody including WhatsApp themselves can read the messages that are exchanged here.
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Nevertheless, the platform gives the user certain options for making the conversations more private. Follow the below pointers and make sure that all your chats are more secure than ever before.
- For more security, one can go to the Account section of Settings and set up two-step verification. When the user selects this option, they will be asked for a PIN that will be required when registering their phone number with WhatsApp again.
- Every chat that one engages in has its own security code. The codes are unique to each chat. These codes can be found on the contact info-screen both as a QR code and as a 60-digit number. One can turn on notifications for when these codes change in any of their chats. The change usually happens when any of the people involved in the conversation reinstalls the app. These notifications can be turned on through Account -> Security Notifications -> push the button and turn them on.
- The user can have the full control on who can see their last seen. They have four options to select from- everyone, my contacts, my contacts except…, nobody. This can be selected from settings-> privacy-> last seen and online.
- The users can also control who can see when they are online. They are given two options- everyone or same as last seen. When the latter option is selected, the app applies the same settings that one has selected for the last seen. You can follow the same steps as last time to set the online settings.
- Users can also select who can see their About. They are given four options here as well. This includes- everyone, my contacts, my contacts except…, nobody. To set this, users can click settings-> privacy-> About.
- One can also control who can view their profile photo. This too has the same four options of everyone, my contacts, my contacts except…, and nobody. To set this, users can click settings-> privacy-> profile photo.
- One can control their status privacy as well. When user selects settings and go to privacy, they can see an option of status privacy and select one of the three options which include my contacts, my contacts except…, only share with….
- Users can also control their read receipts. If the option is turned off, one would not be able to send or receive any read receipts, though they are always sent for group chats. Settings can be chosen by clicking settings-> privacy -> read receipts.
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- Under the privacy, one can see an option of groups where they can select who can add the user in their group. The users have three options to select from, which include everyone, my contacts, and my contacts except….
- With a recent update, users can silence unknown callers. When this is turned on, calls from unknown numbers will be silenced, but they will still be shown in the calls tab. Users can enable this by clicking settings-> privacy-> calls.