Leaving a group discreetly, limiting the possibilities of screenshots … what the latest WhatsApp update provides

More privacy and control over it, that’s how WhatsApp’s latest update could be described. Deployed gradually throughout the month of August, the changes could delight many users who were demanding to be able to better protect their privacy.

Quietly leaving a group, changing who can see their last login time, or deleting messages longer after writing them, are some of the news according to The Verge website. Among them, there is also an element that could bring Snapchat users to WhatsApp, for example. The update should indeed prevent the screenshot of ephemeral photos, videos or messages that disappear once they are opened.

And don’t worry, if you send a message you want to come back to, you can do it for longer. Today you have 1 hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds and this limit will be extended to two days. According to information from several specialized media, group administrators will soon be able to delete a message written by a member on the conversation of all users.

Better control what your contacts see

This update will also allow users to control the “seen at” element, which lets you know when you were last online. Until now, it was only possible to choose to show this status to everyone, only to your contacts or to no one. With the recent changes, the option “my contacts except” has been added. Your interlocutors will therefore always be able to have access to your status except those to whom you do not wish to give access to this information.

Finally, another element that may make you happy: a feature will allow you to leave discussion groups more discreetly. Until now, all members of the group were informed of the departure of one of the participants, which could lead to misunderstandings. Now only group admins will know that you’ve chosen to leave the conversation.

This update comes as Meta remains scrutinized on the management of its users’ data since the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Mark Zuckerberg also explained that these new features should make user exchanges “as secure as face-to-face conversations. The billionaire does not rule out strengthening the security of exchanges on its other applications such as Messenger or Instagram.