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How to hide notifications of whatsapp


How to stop anyone reading WhatsApp chats on your phone

The messages, photos, voice messages and videos you send in WhatsApp are all protected by end-to-end encryption. That means they’re private and no-one can intercept those messages or see their content, and that includes WhatsApp and Facebook.

However, unless you make the changes we recommend here, others could still read your chats and potentially see personal and sensitive information. If they know your phone’s passcode, you leave your unlocked phone lying around or they simply see messages pop up on your phone’s lock screen, that end-to-end encryption is no help at all.

But you can fix all this by changing a few settings, and it’ll take but a minute.

1. Enable WhatApp’s ‘Screen Lock’ feature

Even if someone got hold of your phone when it was unlocked or guessed your passcode, Screen Lock stops them from seeing your WhatsApp chats. With it enabled, your fingerprint or face (with Face ID on an iPhone) is required to open WhatsApp.

To enable it:

  1. Tap the Settings cog (iPhone) or the three vertical dots (Android), then tap Account.
  2. Tap Privacy and then Screen Lock (iPhone) or Fingerprint lock (Android).
  3. Tap to enable it on the next screen and put your finger on your phone’s scanner if prompted.

You can choose whether to require that every time WhatsApp is opened (the Immediately option) or every 1 minutes, 15 minutes or after 1 hour since the last time you authenticated yourself.

When this is enabled, you can still reply to WhatsApp notifications and answer voice or video calls.

2. Stop messages being displayed on your lock screen

If you don’t want anyone to be able to see messages people are sending, you need to stop them from being shown on your phone’s lock screen.

The way to achieve this differs according to your phone.

If you have an iPhone:

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Notifications then scroll down to WhatsApp in the long list.
  3. Tap Show Previews and choose either Never or When Unlocked.

If you choose Never, then you will stop seeing message previews even when you’re using your phone. The middle-ground setting, which is now the default, is When Unlocked. This means messages will be hidden on the Lock Screen, but not when your phone is unlocked.

Another way to stop previews from being displayed in notifications that pop up when your iPhone is unlocked is to go to WhatsApp’s own Settings, tap Notifications and disable Show Preview.

On Android, the location of the setting will be different for each phone manufacturer. But, in general, you need to do the following:

  1. Open the Settings app
  2. Tap on Apps (or Apps & Notifications)
  3. Tap on WhatsApp in the list
  4. Turn ‘Show preview’.

If that setting doesn’t exist on your phone, look for Notifications in the Settings app and look for an option to “Hide all sensitive data” or similar.

Android owners can also go to the Notification settings within WhatsApp’s own settings and disable ‘Use high priority notifications’ which will stop message previews being shown at the top of the screen when your phone is unlocked.

There are other privacy and security settings you can make so your use of WhatsApp is even safer. For example, you can enable two-factor authentication in the Security settings which helps keep your account safe from anyone who might try to steal it and take control of it.

Other privacy options include restricting who can add you to groups, and who can see when you were ‘last seen’. In fact, a recent update changes the default setting so that only your contacts can see when you last used the app (or are currently online). Those who aren’t in your contacts list – i.e. strangers – can’t see that status.

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How to Completely Turn Off WhatsApp Notifications Without Deleting the App

WhatsApp is probably your go-to app for instant messaging but sometimes texting on the app becomes overwhelming, so much so that you wish to take a break from it. However, it is not easy to shy away from picking up your phone when the familiar WhatsApp notification tone buzzes. The easiest way to go discreet is to turn off the internet connection to silence WhatsApp notifications so that there's nothing that grabs your attention. But then you'd risk missing updates from other important apps, like Gmail. In this article we'll tell you how to completely turn off WhatsApp notifications without have to uninstall the app.

There are certain third-party applications that can restrict internet access to some apps like WhatsApp on your phone so that there are no notifications from that particular app to distract you. For example, Google Digital Wellbeing allows users to control notifications from apps and helps them restrict the use of social media applications. But some users don't consider it to be a foolproof idea that will keep them away from using those apps. Some third-party applications may also pose a security risk and your data may get compromised.

Alternatively, you can mute WhatsApp by tinkering with your phone's settings.

Turn off all types of notifications in WhatsApp

The first step is to disable the notification alerts for WhatsApp. For this, you need to open WhatsApp > Settings > Notifications > and select ‘None' in the Notification tone menu for Messages. Further, you should turn off the vibration, choose “None” under the “Light” option, and turn off “Use high priority notifications”. The same can be done for the Group settings just below the Messages section.

Disable notifications from general Android Settings

The Android system also sends notifications for apps. So in order to get completely cut-off from WhatsApp, you need to turn off the notifications by going to Settings > Apps and Notifications > Apps > Select WhatsApp > Notifications > Turn off "All WhatsApp Notifications" on your Android device.

Revoke Permissions and Disable Mobile Data Usage in Background

The third step is to further cripple the app. Go to Settings > Apps and Notifications > Apps > Select WhatsApp. Under Permissions, revoke all permissions which allow WhatsApp to access camera, microphone, and files on your smartphone. Tap Mobile Data and disable the usage of mobile data in the background.

‘Force Stop' WhatsApp

After revoking all permissions and disabling mobile data usage in the background, go to the previous screen, and 'Force Stop' the app. By doing this, the app will not be functional and you will not get any notifications. However, if you need to check messages on the app, you can simply open WhatsApp on your device.

This way, you'll be able to stay away from overwhelming texting on WhatsApp without removing the app or turning off your internet connection. Furthermore, you will remain virtually ‘invisible' to your contacts.

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Further reading: WhatsApp, WhatsApp Notifications, Facebook

17 ways to make WhatsApp safer and more private

October 23, 2019Technologies

Protect the messenger with a PIN code, remove information about the last time you were online, and hide notifications from prying eyes.

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1. Set up two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication greatly increases the security of your account. It will protect you if scammers somehow get access to the SIM card.

Open WhatsApp and tap → Settings → Account → Two-Step Verification → Enable. Enter and remember the code you created, then enter your email address - you will need it if you need to reset your PIN. Click Done.

Now, every time you log into your WhatsApp account, in addition to the SMS code, you will also need to enter your PIN.

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  • How to set up two-factor authentication for all your accounts

2. Disable pop-up messages

When your smartphone is locked, it still shows pop-up notifications. This is very convenient, but not safe: if you conduct confidential correspondence, anyone can spy on the contents of sent messages and the addressee's name on an unattended gadget. And it doesn't require a fingerprint or password.

Therefore, paranoid notifications should be turned off. There are two ways to do this: in WhatsApp itself and in the smartphone settings. In the messenger, open "Settings" → "Notifications". Turn off "Priority Notifications" in the "Messages" and "Groups" sections.

In the smartphone settings, the same is done as follows: open the system "Settings" → "Applications and notifications" → WhatsApp → "Notifications". Uncheck the "Show notifications" option.

If you don't want to turn off notifications completely, at least turn them off on the lock screen. To do this, tap "Settings" → "Lock screen" → "Advanced" → "Lock screen notifications". Here you can hide their content so as not to show the text of your messages to strangers, or simply disable them.

3. Block unwanted contacts

WhatsApp has a huge number of spammers, scammers and just weird and unpleasant people. Luckily, if you don't want to receive messages from someone, you can simply blacklist them.

Open a chat with an unwanted contact and tap "Menu" → "More" → "Block". Or select a conversation with him and press "Menu" → "View contact" → "Block".

You can view users in the black list and, if necessary, remove them from there by pressing "Menu" → "Settings" → "Account" → "Privacy" → "Blocked".

4. Hide your active time

All WhatsApp users can see the last time you went online. But you can disable this feature so that overly annoying interlocutors do not ask questions why you do not respond to their messages.

Go to "Menu" → "Settings" → "Account" → "Privacy". Click the item "Was (-s)". Change it from Everyone to Nobody. This way no one can see when you were last online. But keep in mind that in this case, you will not be able to see which of your friends when you went online.

5. Hide details

Details is the caption that appears next to your name in your contact list. For newly registered users, this field contains “Hey there! I am using whatsapp. You can specify ready-made statuses there, for example, “At work”, “Busy” or write any quotes.

And if the message in your Details field is not for everyone, tap Menu → Settings → Account → Privacy → Details and select either My Contacts or Nobody.

6. Hide statuses

Statuses allow you to share photos, videos, text, and GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. By default, they are shown to all your contacts. If you like to share gifs with cats with your friends, and they come to your boss, you run the risk of being in an awkward situation.

Therefore, go to "Menu" → "Settings" → "Account" → "Privacy" → "Status". Select the "Contacts except" option and specify the people you don't want to annoy with your pictures. Or click "Share With" and your statuses will only be shown to the people you choose.

7. Hide your photo

Perhaps you want only people you know to see your profile picture. To do this, tap "Menu" → "Settings" → "Account" → "Privacy" → "Profile photo" and select the option "My Contacts".

8. Hide the read receipt

When you receive and view a message from someone, the sender has a read receipt checkmark next to their reply in the chat. This is usually convenient, but can sometimes lead to awkward situations. For example, you forgot to write to a friend in time, and he was offended.

To avoid this, tap Settings → Account → Privacy and turn off Read Receipts. Please note, however, that in this case you will no longer see the notification checkmarks. And in group chats, this feature does not work.

9. Read messages in flight mode

There is a little trick for those who do not like the previous paragraph. If you don’t want to turn off read receipts, but still want to look at the received letter and not tell anyone about it, switch your smartphone to flight mode. Then open WhatsApp and read the message. Then close it, turn off airplane mode, and the sender won't get a read receipt.

10. Hide conversations

If you want to hide but not delete a WhatsApp conversation, you can archive it. Press and hold the desired chat until you highlight it. Then, in the top menu, tap the "Archive" button.

Of course, any person who even knows how to use WhatsApp will still find a hidden chat if you give him time to sit on your smartphone. But still, thanks to archiving, confidential dialogues are not so conspicuous.

To view the archive of chats, scroll to the very bottom of the list of conversations and click the inscription "Archived". There you can also remove conversations that you added by mistake.

11. Disable location sharing

WhatsApp allows you to easily share your location with your interlocutor. This is much faster than typing an address. By default, WhatsApp prompts you to choose how long to show your location to a friend: 15 minutes, an hour, or 8 hours.

But it would be embarrassing to find out that you showed someone your location in real time for a long time because you mistakenly sent geodata to the wrong person.

To avoid this, go to Settings → Account → Privacy → Location and make sure you don't share your movements with anyone else.

12. Send private messages from public chats

When you reply to someone's messages in public chats, everyone in the conversation can see it. But you can also send private responses. To do this, highlight the message in the general chat and select the "Reply in person" option from the menu.

13. Revoke unwanted administrator rights

Have you appointed someone as an administrator in a group you created, and he is abusing his authority? Revoke his rights. To do this, press and hold a group in the chat list, then tap Menu→Group Details. Select the name of the desired person and click "Revoke Admin".

14. Hide photos and videos from the gallery

By default, the WhatsApp client on Android saves all received media files to your smartphone's gallery. That is, if someone sent you a confidential photo, you may very well accidentally show it to your friends when you show off pictures from your vacation to them.

Go to Settings → Chats and turn off Media Visibility. Now uploaded files will not be saved in the gallery. At the same time, save mobile traffic.

15. Block the app

In WhatsApp for iPhone, you can secure the app with biometric authentication. Thanks to this, no one will be able to read the correspondence and send messages on your behalf, even if you leave your smartphone unattended.

Open WhatsApp and tap Settings → Account → Privacy → Screen lock. Turn on Touch ID for fingerprint recognition or Face ID for face recognition. Then choose how much time of inactivity to block WhatsApp after.

On Android, this feature is currently only available in the beta version of the app.

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16. Delete unwanted messages

Sent someone a message and immediately realized that you shouldn't have done it? Whatsapp allows you to fix this error. To do this, press and hold the message until you highlight it, and then select the "Delete" option from the menu.

True, unlike Telegram, WhatsApp does not delete the message without a trace. Instead, the recipient will see "This message has been deleted." What you have sent will not be deleted after about an hour.

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  • How to delete WhatsApp messages when this option is no longer available

17. Disable message backup

WhatsApp can back up your conversations to Google Drive on Android or iCloud on iOS. This will come in handy if you want to recover your messages after a system reset or transfer them to another device.

But in the cloud, messages are stored in unencrypted form, which, by the way, WhatsApp warns about in the settings of this function. So if someone gets access to your vault, then the correspondence will be in the wrong hands. If you've secured Google Drive and iCloud with two-factor authentication, there's not much to worry about. But it’s still better for paranoid people to disable message backup altogether.

Tap "Settings" → "Chats" → "Backup Chats" → "Backup" and set the switch to "Never". Now WhatsApp will store copies of chats only in the smartphone's memory.

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  • 10 useful tips for every WhatsApp user
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How to turn off WhatsApp notifications on iPhone?

In the modern world, users are increasingly using instant messengers to communicate with relatives, friends, and colleagues. In messengers, we receive different types of messages, but it happens that you get into some chats that distract you with a lot of messages and you want to make sure that notifications about them do not come. Or you are simply fed up with emails and want to turn off information about them. Today we will analyze how to remove WhatsApp notifications on iPhone, how to adjust the sound.