On Tuesday, WhatsApp announced a new set of features in a blog post designed to enhance privacy and keep WhatsApp messaging “as private and secure as face-to-face conversations”.
The features include the ability to leave group chats silently without notifying anyone, hiding your online status from some or all friends, and protecting your chats by blocking screenshots.
The company will begin rolling out features this month in a global campaign starting with the UK, with the screen blocking feature lagging behind several months. When we reached out to WhatsApp support to ask when it is due for release in the MENA region, they refused to comment.
Commenting on the latest update, product head Ami Vora highlighted the app’s use of end-to-end encryption, saying: “No other global messaging service at this scale provides this level of security for their users’ messages, media, voice messages, video calls, and chat back-ups.”
WhatsApp currently has two billion users globally.
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