WhatsApp is not synonymous with privacy, and the messaging app wants to change that. It’s rolling out ‘advanced chat privacy’ for chats and groups.
While WhatsApp may be the most popular chat platform, it’s not known as the most privacy-friendly. The inextricable link to parent company Meta does the messaging app no favors in this regard. Competing apps like Signal take advantage of this to nibble away at WhatsApp’s market share.
WhatsApp wants to change this. In a blog post, WhatsApp announces a new feature called ‘Advanced Chat Privacy’ for users who desire more privacy. This new mode comes on top of earlier privacy-related functions that the messaging app had previously rolled out, such as end-to-end encryption, disappearing messages, and locked chats.
More Privacy
What does advanced chat privacy add to this? WhatsApp sums it up in the blog. Enabling the feature ensures that the content of chat conversations cannot be exported, neither by you nor your conversation partner(s). It also turns off the automatic downloading of shared media to your phone and the use of messages for AI functions. This way, everyone in the chat can be sure that no one can disclose what is said in the chat, WhatsApp writes.
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Advanced chat privacy will roll out with the latest version of WhatsApp and is available for one-on-one conversations and group chats with multiple people. You’ll be able to enable the setting by tapping on the chat name, which opens the specific settings for the conversation.