WhatsApp Now Hides Your 'Last Seen' Status From Strangers

[MacRumors]

WhatsApp has made a privacy change to prevent people on the messaging platform from viewing the "Last Seen" status of users whom they have never chatted with, according to the latest report from independent feature specialist WABetaInfo.

As regular WhatsApp users will know, the "Last Seen" status of a contact sits atop the conversation thread, informing you when that contact last opened the app and was active on the platform. Users can disable their "Last Seen" status so that other contacts can't see when they were last online, but the setting's options are currently limited to "Everyone," "My Contacts," and "Nobody."

The latest change behind the scenes is said to be a privacy and security feature to prevent people you don't know and haven't communicated with from seeing your "Last Seen" status and online presence in the app.

According to a response from WhatsApp support, people and businesses a user knows or has previously messaged are not affected by the change.

To improve the privacy and security of our users, we're making it harder for people you don't know and haven't chatted with from seeing your last seen and online presence on WhatsApp. This will not change anything between you and your friends, family, and businesses who you know or have previously messaged.

As WABetaInfo notes, if a user can't view the "Last Seen" of any contacts they've already chatted with, it's because they have turned off the visibility of their "Last Seen" status or they've adjusted it on a contact-by-contact basis, a feature currently available to some users on WhatsApp beta that has yet to roll out globally.

Article Link: WhatsApp Now Hides Your 'Last Seen' Status From Strangers

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Glad to see that implemented. I was tired of unknown people checking my status constantly.

 

[winxmac]

I have never used WhatsApp... How does it compare to Signal, Telegram, Line, Viber, and other similar apps?

 

[EuroChilli]

No one sees my status, not even my own family. Quite frankly, it's no ones business when I was last active on the platform. I also have read receipts turned off, same goes for email.

 

[Shoju]

I have never used WhatsApp... How does it compare to Signal, Telegram, Line, Viber, and other similar apps?

If you didn’t feel the need to sign up until now and feel fine using the other messengers you mentioned, I’d argue you can easily give WhatsApp a pass. It’s a messaging service like many others — but from Facebook (sorry: “meta”). ?‍♂️

 

[Havalo]

‘To improve the privacy and security of our users’ - come on now ?

 

[EuroChilli]

‘To improve the privacy and security of our users’ - come on now

Yep, this coming from facebook, or meta or whetever Zuck calls his ‘empire’ now

 

[krspkbl]

If you didn’t feel the need to sign up until now and feel fine using the other messengers you mentioned, I’d argue you can easily give WhatsApp a pass. It’s a messaging service like many others — but from Facebook (sorry: “meta”). ?‍♂️

You can't easily give WhatsApp a pass. As much as I despise Facebook it's hard to ignore WhatsApp. It's by far the most popular messaging app and good luck trying to convince people to ditch it and move to something else.

I refuse to use WhatsApp despite people looking at me like I'm crazy and saying "What? Why don't you have it? You NEED it. Go download it." I'd love to use Signal but there is very little chance of me convincing friends, family, colleagues to download it when they already have WhatsApp. Even if I do convince some people they would need to then convince the people they know.

Facebook have got their claws into everyone with WhatsApp. It's businesses aswell that use it. So many places now have done away with email/live chat or rely on it less and just tell you to contact them via WhatsApp cause it's the "easiest way".

That all said, people really should be giving other apps a chance. We need to cut out Facebook from our lives.

 

[Havalo]

That all said, people really should be giving other apps a chance. We need to cut out Facebook from our lives.

Haha, to use your own words, good luck with that

 

[krspkbl]

Haha, to use your own words, good luck with that

Gotta at least try.

 

[realistlaw]

I have never used WhatsApp... How does it compare to Signal, Telegram, Line, Viber, and other similar apps?

If you are a telegram user then you don't gonna like WhatsApp. Telegram has way more features than WhatsApp but what one thinks is good about whats app is that it never faces connecting or updating problem while chatting and you can easily send messages at every low internet connection (2G,3G).

 

[apparatchik]

I hate the “Online” indicator under a user’s name when you open a chat (meaning they’re possibly reading the message atm), does someone know how to disable that?

I’ve turned off last seen for everybody as well as read receipts but suspect the “online” indicator is still there...

 

[tridley68]

I have been using WhatsApp for the last 3 years while my daughter is studying at Cambridge University this is a great feature thanks.

 

[Seanm87]

You mean people don’t disable this? First thing I turned off on WhatsApp. It’s very creepy.

 

[g-7]

How am I supposed to efficiently stalk people these days?

 

[B4U]

And the Zucker considers himself not a stranger to you, which means he can see your "last seen" status.

 

[randyhudson]

WhatsApp is designed to violate your privacy. The App is unusable without giving up your phone number and sharing all of your contacts with Facebook.

 

[apparatchik]

WhatsApp is designed to violate your privacy. The App is unusable without giving up your phone number and sharing all of your contacts with Facebook.

Sadly, unlike Facebook or Instagram, one cannot opt out of Whatsapp in certain countries as is the de facto messaging standard, colleagues, businesses, friends, everybody is there and everybody is just not gonna switch instantly.

 

[bf2008]

Sorry, I don't understand the difference with the current way it works. Currently you can hide last seen to only your contacts, isn't that the same as what this article is claiming? They are also mixing the "online" status here, that's a different thing and as far as I know it's impossible to hide the "online" status even from non-contacts.

 

[Sterkur]

WhatsApp is designed to violate your privacy. The App is unusable without giving up your phone number and sharing all of your contacts with Facebook.

Same here, no interest in sharing my phonebook. My friends have not given me permission to share their info.
Wazzap/Whatsthat (as I like to call it) has also been used for phone break-ins as per Jeff Bezos. Wazzap and its tactics were around way before Facebook bought them.

 

[svish]

Welcome change. Anything that improves privacy is always welcome.