Through the different WhatsApp options we can control our privacy and improve the security of our account. The popular messaging client allows us to say who can see our most personal information and shield our account and application .
Below we will see nine privacy and security options that WhatsApp offers us to improve the privacy and security of our account, reviewing the settings that every user should configure to choose their level of privacy.
Hide the last time
If you don’t want your contacts to know when was the last time you entered WhatsApp, you can hide the last time from Settings> Account> Privacy> Last time. once . There we find two very interesting options. Selecting ‘Nobody’ will stop showing everyone what time you opened WhatsApp. With the option ‘My contacts, except…’ you can decide which contacts can see when was the last time you used the application. The only thing that will continue to inform your contacts is when you are online at that moment.
Who can see your profile picture
WhatsApp allows you to decide who can see your profile picture from its privacy settings. To improve your privacy, it is best to only show the profile photo to the contacts in your address book. By tapping on the Profile photo setting you can choose ‘My contacts’, ‘My contacts, except…’ or ‘No one’ if you don’t want to show your profile photo to anyone.
Who can see your information
In the profile of our WhatsApp account we have to write information or select a status. It does not allow us to leave that field blank without resorting to tricks , but from the Info privacy setting you can select who can see your information. Again we find the options ‘Everyone’, ‘My contacts’, ‘My contacts, except…’ or ‘No one’.
Who can see your statuses
If you want to share statuses only with certain contacts, you just have to go to Status privacy and choose which contacts you do not want to share your statuses with with the option ‘My contacts, except’, or with which contacts you want to share with the option ‘Only share with…’.
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How to hide conversations in WhatsApp on Android and iOS
Disable read receipts
If you don’t want your contacts to know that you’ve read their messages, go to Settings > Account > Privacy and turn off Read Receipts . By deactivating these options you will have removed the famous double blue check .
temporary messages
If you want WhatsApp to automatically delete the oldest conversations, then you will have to activate the temporary messages from the privacy settings of your account. There we can put a default duration of 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days. Messages will be deleted for all conversation participants after the set time has elapsed.
Who can add you to a group
To prevent someone from adding you to groups without your consent, thereby exposing your phone number to people you don’t know, you need to go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Groups . There you have to select the option ‘My contacts, except… and mark all contacts by clicking on the upper right icon. So all the contacts in your address book will not be able to add you to a group, they will have to send you an invitation. You will have to configure this option every time you add a new contact to your address book.
Lock your WhatsApp with fingerprint
If you want to make sure that no one can open your WhatsApp application, you can activate Fingerprint lock . So every time you want to open the application you will have to identify yourself with your fingerprint. You can configure if you want the application to be blocked immediately, after one minute or after 30 minutes after stopping using it. You can also deactivate that it stops showing the content in the notifications.
Activate two-step verification
To prevent your WhatsApp account from being stolen or hacked, you have to activate Two-Step Verification from Settings > Account . There you will have to put a PIN of six numbers and an email to be able to recover the account. By activating two-step verification, WhatsApp will ask you for the PIN when you install the application on a new device and every few days to verify that it is you who is using your account.
single display
Finally, if you’re sending a photo or video with sensitive content, such as a password, to a contact, and you don’t want it saved on either your device or the person’s device, you can choose to only see the photo or video. photo or video only once . When you go to send a photo or video, activate the new single view option (icon of a circle with a ‘1’). When the contact opens the photo or video it will be deleted automatically.
