14 DAY TRIAL // WhatsApp will soon get a new feature that will allow users to hide their online status and therefore remain in invisible mode all the time.
If you’ve ever used Yahoo Messenger, you probably remember the invisible mode, which pretty much allowed users to chat without revealing their online status.
Similar capabilities are already available in modern messengers, but as far as WhatsApp is concerned, it’s pretty much impossible to hide your online status.
While you can prevent users who aren’t in your contact list or others to see your last online status, everybody can see in real-time when you’re online and using WhatsApp. This happens regardless of the privacy features configured in the app.
WhatsApp knows this is one big shortcoming, so now it’s working to introduce a new feature that will make it possible to hide the online status completely.
Called “who can see when I’m online,” the new option will most likely make it possible for users to hide the online status either for everybody or only for selected contacts. And of course, similar capabilities will be available not only on Android but also on iPhone.
WABetaInfo claims the feature is currently in the beta stage, but for the time being, it’s not known when the rollout to all devices could start.
Without a doubt, this is a welcome update as far as the privacy offered to users is concerned, especially because, you know, privacy has so far been a rather controversial topic for WhatsApp.
While WhatsApp has so far remained completely tight-lipped on this feature, you’d better not hold your breath for its release. The purpose of the beta program is to allow users to try out new features early, and then provide feedback to the company to resolve any potential bug before the public rollout starts.
Obviously, if a major bug is discovered, the public launch can be suspended indefinitely.