Meta-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that will hide your “Last Seen” status from those who are not your contacts and have never chatted with. Earlier, WhatsApp had set the feature on “Everyone” by default, allowing anyone on the app to see your status. The new update now limits the number of people who can see your last seen on the Meta-owned Instant Messaging app.
With the new feature, WhatsApp has set the WhatsApp “last seen” to “My Contact” by defauly instead of “everyone” earlier. A report in The Verge points out a user’s tweet saying that users may not be able to see other people’s statuses anymore. “We are making it harder for people you don’t know or haven’t chatted with from seeing your last seen and online presence on WhatsApp,” an email from WhatsApp was cited by the said user.
The “My Contacts” option for your “last seen” status was available already, but it has never been the default on the app. It is also worth noting that WhatsApp already has a “Nobody” option as well, where users can hide their “last seen” from anyone on WhatsApp.
The Last Seen status lets users see when you were online on WhatsApp last, or if you are using the app. While tihs is a good feature to know if your friends and family are around, it was used for a lot of snooping, and there have been reports of third-party apps exploiting this feature.
Turning on “My Contacts” will prevent third-party apps from seeing your online status, as an app is not considered a contact.
Recently, WhatsApp was also found to be working on allowing users to select people they want to hide their “Last Seen” status from. This feature will let you hide your last seen from specific people in your contacts, not the whole contacts list altogether.
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