Popular instant messaging service, WhatsApp is now testing a feature that users have more control over than usual. The Meta-owned platform will now allow users to hide their online status. This feature was recently spotted by WABetaInfo and has been confirmed to be currently undergoing testing.
The new feature will allow users to choose who can see their online status and who can’t when the app is launched for sending messages, talking, or updating their status. The report says the birth of this feature reveals that the instant messaging service is serious about taking users’ feedback into account. It is anticipated that WhatsApp will update the ‘Last seen and online’ section of the app’s settings to include a new option titled ‘Who can see when I’m online.’
Reports suggest that two new choices will make controlling who may see when users are online directly under our last seen settings: ‘Everyone’ and ‘Same as Last Seen’. The report also says, ‘To stop third-party apps from tracking our last seen and online status, WhatsApp started automatically obscuring the last seen to people you’ve never talked to’ last year.
Currently, the instant messaging service offers users the ability to hide read recipients which are the blue ticks that confirm a message is been read. According to reports, WhatsApp may as well be testing even more features that give users the ability to edit text messages.
According to WABetaInfo’s report, over time Whatsapp users have such a feature that gives them more control. Reasons, why users desire to use WhatsApp in such a mode, include, avoiding being bothered by other users or the feeling of being stalked. WABetaInfo noted in its report that ‘We know a lot of people want this feature, so we also created a concept to disable the online status last year, that’s a good way to share feedback with WhatsApp.’
The new feature will be available to users on the Android, iOS, and WhatsApp web platforms.
