WhatsApp offers multifactor authentication to make accounts more secure. For “Only Share With,” select the contacts you want to share these status updates with. On an Android phone: Go to WhatsApp > Menu > Settings > Account > Privacy > Status, and select “My Contacts” “My Contacts Except” or “Only Share With.” For “My Contacts Except,” check off anybody who shouldn’t see these status updates. On an iPhone: Go to WhatsApp > Settings > Account > Privacy > Status and select “My Contacts,” “My Contacts Except,” or “Only Share With.” For “My Contacts Except,” check off anybody who shouldn’t see these status updates.

Changing the privacy setting won’t have an impact on any updates that have already been posted. You can share the info with all of your contacts, a select few, or all but a select few.

They can be seen by mutual contacts-that is, people whose numbers you have saved in your address book and who have their numbers saved in yours. WhatsApp allows you to share photo, video, GIF, and text updates that disappear after 24 hours. Newer settings allow you to delete messages you’ve sent within the past two days, and send photos and videos that the recipient can only view once. If you don’t like the sound of all that, you might consider switching to Signal, a messaging app with end-to-end encryption and much stronger privacy protections.īut you can shield some of your activities on WhatsApp from the company and other users by limiting access to location data, information about when you’re online and have read messages, and group chats that include you without your consent. Anyone with access to your cloud account will be able to read every message you’ve sent through the app.

Your friends can learn that you’ve seen a message but neglected to respond just yet.Ī police officer with a warrant can gain access to the people you’ve communicated with via call or text.Īnd if you choose to archive your WhatsApp data on iCloud or Google Drive, your messages won’t be encrypted there unless you enable end-to-end encrypted backups. For example, if you don’t tighten your privacy settings, your boss might notice if you’re checking your WhatsApp messages instead of working on a presentation due in an hour.

Is whatsapp safe consumer reports