Last week, Mark Zuckerberg revealed some very major details about the development of three new privacy features for WhatsApp, which we will discuss below.
Soon, You Won't Be Able To Save Screenshots of Messages That Senders Only Wanted You To See Once
According to WhatsApp's most recent beta release (version 2.22.18.16) (via Android Police), blocking screenshots for view-once videos and images is something the company is working on. Whatsapp said this feature has been seen being developed for iOS and will soon be available for Android.
The shortcut or gesture to take a screenshot is functional, however the app just displays an error message informing you that screenshots are not permitted.
WhatsApp stated that taking a screenshot of an already-viewed image or video will no longer be an option.
However, this feature does not exclude the availability of additional tools for other people to capture or record your messages.
For example, other people can take a picture of your messages using different devices.
Additionally, since attempting to capture a screenshot of a picture or video would be automatically blocked, WhatsApp said that there is no system in place to alert the sender when this occurs.
Meanwhile, a more specific release date is not yet available, but this is another feature that will be made available to some people soon.
The promised screenshot blocker is still under development and not yet accessible to beta testers. Therefore, there may be some time before it is widely released, and we don't yet know when that will happen.
You Can Leave Group Chats Without Notifying Group Members
One of the three new privacy features that WhatsApp unveiled on Tuesday will let you "quietly" exit a group chat without letting anyone know.
The Meta-owned company claims that it will introduce a function that will enable you to quit groups quietly. Administrators will still be notified as a result of this, but no one else in the group chat will be.
Who Can See Your Online Status
You will now have greater control over who can see you when you use WhatsApp thanks to the new privacy setting. If you don't want everyone to be able to view your online activity, you may select the "Same as Last Seen" option.
When you are online, WhatsApp displays this information to other users. Your status is visible to anybody who has access to your profile.
WhatsApp also lets other users know when you were last active, which is another feature. You can already hide that information from other users of the app using the new privacy feature's privacy settings.
This month, users will begin to receive this feature, so make sure to keep your WhatsApp version up. As usual, we'll let users know when a compatible build is available.
