In an initiative taken by WhatsApp recently, new privacy and security features to protect the data of its users have been introduced on WhatsApp Web.
After the update of the privacy policy of the messaging service, millions of users had switched over to other platforms like Signal, Telegram and more. This move was criticised by lots of whatsapp users because of security issues.
In order to resolve this situation, WhatsApp has delayed the time period for accepting its new policy terms from February 8 2021, to May 2021 and is rolling out new enhanced security features to safeguard the privacy of users added to the build of this messaging application.
Privacy Policy
This feature allows you to restrict the people who can see your Status, Last Seen, Profile Photo and your About under the privacy menu settings. Customise your privacy settings as per your preference on Android or iOS.
Group settings
In this feature introduced by WhatsApp, users are enabled to control who is permitted to add them in a group.
It can be enabled in Settings > Account > Privacy > Groups, and set according to your preference. Under the ‘My Contacts’ option, all contacts saved in the address book are authorised to add you in groups, whereas ‘My Contacts Except’ is for excluding selective people from your saved contacts to add you in groups.
Block users
As soon a user blocks the other, they cannot see their Last Seen or the Profile Photo. You will no longer receive messages from the blocked contact and messages are not shown as “delivered”.
All messages sent to a blocked contact will have only one tick mark (message sent) and no calls will go through to that user. This feature is specially designed and updated considering the privacy of a user from a blocked account.
Touch or Face ID authentication
WhatsApp has now allowed Touch and Face ID locks along with Fingerprint Unlocking for its app for additional security.
This is similar to the technology used in banking apps, and will automatically lock your WhatsApp after a period of inactivity in order to secure your personal data. This feature can also be customised under the Privacy menu settings.
Disappearing messages
Make your conversations feel more secure and private with this new feature. Set on to a time period of 7 days after which messages will be deleted automatically, this will make all your chats feel fun and light!
Two-step verification
Make your account extra secure with this feature. An additional six-digit pin is used to verify your WhatsApp account, ensuring no one else can access it in case your number or SIM card is compromised.
Safeguard your account with all these new security features introduced by WhatsApp to make it extra secure and private while customising your account as per your preference.