WhatsApp blocks screenshots of messages to protect privacy

WhatsApp is introducing new privacy tools to its messaging app, including the ability to block screenshots of messages if they are private. Plus other features that add more control over your online presence.

WhatsApp and privacy: blocking message screenshots and other tools

Today, Tuesday 9 August, WhatsApp introduced some options to better protect user privacy. Among these is the “Online presence check“. This feature, which should arrive within the month for all users, allows you to choose which contacts they can see if you are online or not. The list of contacts who cannot know if you are online it has no limits and you can change it at any time. It will arrive on both desktop and mobile.

Also, if you send self-destructing messages, you can enable the ability to block screenshots. In the last have, the app warned users that on the other side they could save the conversation by recording the screen. With this feature, which should arrive “soon”, it should no longer be possible (although it is still possible to photograph the screen with another device, so always use discretion).

Another change coming is the possibility of leave the groups without a message appearing for all members of the group. Admins will still be notified of leaving the group, but other users will not.

All these innovations are part of WhatsApp’s overall effort, especially in the last year, to provide new “layers of protection and privacy”. The CEO of the parent company Meta Mark Zuckerberg comments, “We will continue to build new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as a face-to-face conversation.”

The news will arrive soon with app updates.