Check out five WhatsApp settings to protect your privacy amid hacking threats.

WhatsApp remains one of the most used apps for communication, as tens of millions of people rely on the Meta-owned platform to share private messages, photos, videos, voice notes and personal updates.

While WhatsApp protects private messages and calls with end-to-end encryption, that doesn’t mean that every information on your account is automatically hidden from others. The platform offers a range of privacy and security tools that allow users to decide who can access their chats, profile information and status updates.

If you’ve never reviewed your WhatsApp privacy settings, now might be a good time to do so. Here are five settings that can give you more control over your personal information.

Lock most private chats.

Some WhatsApp conversations contain information that you don’t want to appear in your regular chat list. That’s where the chat lock comes in.

This feature allows users to move selected conversations out of the main chat list and place them in a separate locked chats folder. Access to these conversations can be secured using the phone’s authentication system, such as a passcode, fingerprint or Face ID, depending on the device.

WhatsApp says that the person on the other end of the conversation is not notified when the chat is locked. Users can also create a passcode to provide another layer of protection. The Locked Chats folder can also be hidden, making chats only accessible when a secret code is entered.

Check the profile picture privacy.

Your WhatsApp profile picture is visible information, and depending on your privacy settings, it may be available to a wider audience than you think.

WhatsApp allows users to decide who can see their profile picture. Available choices include All, My Contacts, My Contacts Except… and None. If you don’t want your photo to be seen by people outside of your trusted circle, changing this setting can instantly reduce its exposure.

To review it, go to:

Settings → Privacy → Profile Picture

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Additional lock on WhatsApp

Even if your phone is secured with a passcode or biometric authentication, adding another layer of protection to WhatsApp can help prevent someone from accidentally opening the app.

The platform’s app lock feature may require biometric verification before WhatsApp can be opened. On supported iPhones, users can use Face ID or Touch ID, while supported Android devices can use fingerprint or other available authentication methods.

WhatsApp also allows users to determine when the app should be locked. Importantly, locking the app does not prevent users from receiving calls or responding to messages through notifications.

For people who regularly use WhatsApp Web, an app lock option is also available, allowing the desktop or web version to be protected with a password and set to lock automatically.

‘See once’ Fretcher

Not every photo or video needs to be permanently available in the chat. WhatsApp’s View Once feature is designed for media that you want the recipient to open once rather than stay in the conversation.

When a supporting image or video is sent using ViewWins, it disappears after opening. This feature can be useful for sharing sensitive or temporary content, but users should note that it is not a guarantee that information can never be intercepted.

Once someone can view the content, there is always the possibility that they can reproduce it using another device or share the information in some other way. For this reason, View One should be considered an additional privacy measure—not a substitute for caution when sharing sensitive content.

Limit your status.

Your WhatsApp status can reveal more about your life than you intend. A seemingly innocuous photo from a vacation, workplace, family gathering or even your home can reveal information about where you are, what you’re doing or who you’re with.

So WhatsApp gives users control over the audience of their statuses. Instead of automatically sharing every update with everyone in your contact list, users can adjust their privacy settings and choose who can see their status.

Your WhatsApp may be hacked today as NCERT has issued an alert for these links.

Status updates disappear after 24 hours, but they remain visible to a select audience during that period. It’s worth reviewing this setting regularly, especially if your contact list includes people you no longer know well or interact with infrequently.

Disappearing messages

There’s another privacy feature users may want to consider: disappearing messages. WhatsApp allows users to delete new messages after 24 hours, seven days or 90 days.

This can help reduce the amount of old conversation history that remains in a chat, especially for conversations that don’t need to be stored indefinitely.

However, disappearing messages should not be viewed as a foolproof privacy solution. Some messages may be kept, while backup and forward content may also affect what is left.

WhatsApp already uses end-to-end encryption to protect private messages and calls, but users still have a lot of control over what information is visible through their accounts. Your WhatsApp account can contain years of private conversations, personal photos, family updates and sensitive information.

Instead of relying on the default settings, take a few minutes to review your privacy controls.

WhatsApp Hack Alert: Your messages may have already been compromised.

The post Check five WhatsApp settings to protect your privacy amid hacking threats appeared first on Daily Pakistan Urdu News.

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