WhatsApp Now Lets Users Hide Online Status

WhatsApp introduced a new privacy feature yesterday called ‘online presence,’ which allows users to chat with certain people without letting other contacts know that they are online.

“Decide who sees your online status,” the messaging service tweeted while announcing the new feature. The ability to adjust online presence is part of the company’s efforts to increase user privacy.

Meet online presence 👋

Rolling out now is a feature we know you'll love 💚

Decide who sees your online status 👀

Now you can chat with certain people without all your contacts knowing you're there 🤫

Learn more: https://t.co/J9CrM3BNYO pic.twitter.com/mDNF3Qzdcv

— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) November 2, 2022

By default, WhatsApp sets your privacy settings to allow:

• Any user to see your last seen and online, profile photo, about information, and read receipts
• Your contacts to see your status updates
• Any users to add you to groups

Simply follow these steps to adjust your privacy settings:

On:

• Android: Tap More options > Settings > Privacy.
• iPhone: Tap Settings > Privacy.
• KaiOS: Press Options > Settings > Account > Privacy.
• Desktop: Click Menu > Settings > Privacy.

You can change who can:

• See your Last Seen and Online
• See your Profile Photo
• See your About information
• See your Status updates
• See Read Receipts
• Add you to Groups

If you don’t share your last seen or online, you won’t be able to see other users’ last seen or online. Also, people online in a chat thread with you can see when you’re typing.