Text: Nada Salsabila
Photo: Unsplash
WhatsApp is rolling out a new privacy feature that will hide a user’s “last seen” status from contacts they don’t know or who haven’t chatted with the user before, reported by WABetaInfo. Previously, WhatsApp set the “Everyone” feature by default, allowing anyone on WhatsApp to see the user’s status.
WhatsApp’s new update limits the visibility of users’ statuses to people they’ve added on the platform. Instead, users can set the feature to “My Contacts” by default. This way, strangers won’t be able to see when the user was last online on WhatsApp, or even if the user was online.
As WABetaInfo reports, this change has taken effect for some accounts as some users recently reported that they can no longer see other users’ WhatsApp statuses. In a post on Twitter, a user shared an email from WhatsApp support explaining the new feature. “We make it difficult for people you don’t know and haven’t chatted with from seeing your last seen and online presence on WhatsApp.”
Previously the “My Contacts” option for the user’s “last seen” status was available, but it was never the default in the application. WhatsApp already has a “Nobody” option as well, which prevents all users from seeing the user’s status. A user’s status on WhatsApp lets other contacts know when they were last online, or whether the user is currently using the app.
In addition to these new actions, WhatsApp has been testing a new privacy option that allows users to select specific accounts to hide their “last seen” status. In November, WABetaInfo said that the messaging app began testing an option called “My Contacts Except …” that would allow users to hide their status from certain contacts. 
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