The privacy of Meta’s WhatsApp users has been a major focus recently. This month, the company released new privacy tools to further reduce the digital footprint we leave. The app’s latest privacy feature restricts who can see your most recent activity. In the current version of the app, users can choose to share their Last Seen status with Everyone, My contacts, or No one at all.
If you’re an early adopter of the beta version of the app, you’ll soon be able to exclude certain people from your contact list. The Last Seen of users who haven’t previously chatted with unsaved numbers appears to be hidden by WhatsApp.
Some users have reported that they can no longer see the Last Seen status of specific numbers, according to WABetaInfo. According to a company email, some WhatsApp users rely on third-party apps to keep tabs on their contacts’ Last Seen statuses. These apps will no longer be able to function as a result of this privacy-focused change, as users have never chatted with them or saved their numbers.
The last time you spoke to a person you haven’t saved, your Last Seen will be shown to them. The new policy further restricts the ability of strangers to track you online. In the future, the company may also remove the time limit for deleting messages for everyone.
Where do you spend the most time using instant messaging (IM)? Please share your thoughts in the space provided.