WhatsApp started hiding users' status
Miscellaneous / / December 14, 2021
Strangers will no longer be able to follow when you are online.
WhatsApp continues to work on the security of the service. To do this, we made changes to the standard settings. Now the application by default displays your status only to people from your contact list, while before the status was displayed to everyone.
Now, only people who have your number, as well as those to whom you have written before, will be able to see that you are online (or information about when you last logged in). If desired, in the settings, you can strengthen the protection and prohibit the display of status for all users.
This feature is designed to protect users from ad mechanics who use user status data to spam advertisements.
Changes to settings are rolling out and will be rolling out soon for all accounts.
Earlier in the service also appeared the ability to set automatic deletion of messages in all new chats. Another protective measure is encryption of backups, which is gradually becoming available to all users.