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How to make whatsapp private


How to Change WhatsApp Privacy Settings to Protect Yourself

  • You can change your privacy settings in WhatsApp to determine which groups can see your information.
  • By default, other users can see when you've last used WhatsApp, your profile photo, and your "about" information.
  • There are several other privacy-related WhatsApp features you can enable or adjust as well.

WhatsApp is the mobile messaging app that allows you to send text messages and make phone calls and video calls to friends and family in different countries without paying international fees. 

By default, the app has specific privacy settings in place that allow any user to see when you've last used the app (last seen), your profile photo, your "about" information, and read receipts. They also allow contacts to see your status updates, and any users can add you to groups. 

If you'd like more privacy on the app, these settings can be changed at any time. Here's how to do it. 

How to change your WhatsApp privacy settings

1. Open the WhatsApp app.

2. Tap the gear "Settings" icon in the bottom menu.

3. Tap "Account."

You can find the Account menu in Settings above the Chats icon. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Business Insider

4. Choose "Privacy."

Privacy settings are the first option under the Account menu. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Business Insider

5. Tap on the privacy setting you want to change, including Last Seen, Profile Photo, About, Groups, and My Status. 

Quick tip: If you turn off read receipts, you won't be able to view read receipts for other users. You also cannot turn off read receipts for group chats. 

There are numerous privacy settings you can adjust to keep yourself hidden on WhatsApp. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Business Insider

Quick tip: If you make your "last seen" information private, you won't be able to view the "last seen" for other users.

6. Select a group from the list of options for that setting: 

  • Everyone
  • My Contacts
  • Nobody
These groups determine who can see you and parts of your activity and WhatsApp profile. Abigail Abesamis Demarest/Business Insider

Other ways you can protect your privacy on WhatsApp

While the above are your main privacy control settings, consider a few WhatsApp tools and features that may help maintain your privacy while using the app. 

 

  • Block contacts. If you are concerned about a particular person seeing your profile, location, or online status, consider blocking them altogether so you don't have to lock down all your privacy settings. 
  • Change Group Privacy settings. If you want to control who sees what about you in a WhatsApp group, consider using the "My Contacts Except…" option and create a list of exceptions when selecting it from the Privacy menu depicted in the section above.  
  • Disable media downloads. WhatsApp's default setting is to backup your videos and photos to your phone's Camera Roll. Disable this feature under the Chats menu by toggling off "Save to Camera Roll." 
  • Turn off Read Receipts. You can make it so no one knows when you've read their messages. Under the Privacy menu, tap the green slider next to "Read Receipts" until it goes gray. 
  • Enable screen lock. Adjust your screen lock settings to prevent someone from reading your messages when you're not looking at your phone. Just tap "Screen Lock" on the Privacy menu and choose between four options that let you decide how much time passes before the screen locks. 
  • Use Face ID. If your phone has the capabilities, you can enable Face ID to unlock WhatsApp. You can toggle the setting on using the same page as screen lock. 
  • Turn off Live Location. You'll need to go into your phone's settings for this, but you should be able to disable location services for the app on iOS and Android. 

  • What is WhatsApp? A guide to navigating the free internet-based communication platform

  • What happens when you block someone on WhatsApp? Here's what you need to know

  • How to hide your online status on WhatsApp to protect your privacy

  • Is Telegram secure? Here's what you need to know about the messaging app that rivals WhatsApp and Signal

  • How to adjust your privacy settings on Signal, and protect your messages with extra encryption and face scans

Abigail Abesamis Demarest

Abigail Abesamis Demarest is a contributing writer for Insider based in New York. She loves a good glazed donut and nerdy deep dives into the science of food and how it's made. 

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8 Tips to Make WhatsApp More Secure and Private

WhatsApp is among the fastest growing instant messengers out there, and almost a social network in its own way. But if you are using it, there are some steps you should take to protect your security and privacy.

This is above and beyond WhatsApp's built-in end-to-end encryption. It's enabled by default and can't be turned off. The encryption ensures that your messages can only be read on the recipient's phone. It's the same for voice calls and video calls, both of which are encrypted.

1. Check Encryption for Sensitive Conversations

Even though WhatsApp encrypts all chats by default, sometimes you want to double-check. It's good practice to do that while sharing sensitive information like a credit card number with a trusted contact.

To verify the encryption, start a conversation with that contact. In the chat window, tap the contact's name, and then tap Encryption. You'll see something like this:

This 40-digit pattern is your security code. You can verify this code manually by comparing the digits, asking the contact to scan that QR code, or scanning your contact's code with the "Scan Code" button. As security researcher Martin Shelton notes, it's best to use a different messenger to verify that these numbers match.

2. Turn On Security Notifications

When a new phone or laptop accesses an existing chat, a new security code is generated for both phones. And WhatsApp can send a notification when the security code changes. This way, you can check the encryption with your friend over a different messenger, ensuring its security.

To turn on security notifications, go to WhatsApp > Settings > Account > Security > Show security notifications and flip the toggle to green, as pictured above.

3. Enable Two-Step Verification

If a service supports it, you should be using two factor authentication (2FA). This adds a periodic passcode to WhatsApp, and also ensures your data isn't accessed by someone else.

To activate 2FA, go to Menu > Settings > Account > Two-step verification > Enable. Follow the steps to create a six-digit PIN code that you can easily remember. Importantly, add your email address to retrieve that code in case you forget it.

The periodic checks for the passcode are randomized, so it's not exactly the same as password-locking your chat. But that's not 2FA's purpose anyway. The purpose is to stop someone else from accessing your WhatsApp account without your consent. It's truly one of the best new WhatsApp features, and even available on WhatsApp Web.

4. You Can't Password Protect WhatsApp

Unfortunately, there's no way to lock WhatsApp with a password. WhatsApp has said so explicitly and recommends using a third-party locking app for it on Android.

On iPhones, there is simply no way to password-protect WhatsApp. Apple doesn't allow it, whether with a passcode or Touch ID.

So for now, the periodic 2FA pin is your only hope. Apart from that, the only way to keep WhatsApp private from snooping eyes is to use a password or pattern lock on your phone.

5. Disable Cloud Backups (If You Care About Privacy)

The end-to-end encryption is awesome, but there's one loophole: WhatsApp backs up chats to Google Drive or iCloud. That way, if you reinstall it later, you can retrieve your old messages. But this backup isn't encrypted.

So if you really care about your privacy, then that's something you need to disable. Remember, storing your data with Apple and Google might not protect you against eavesdropping by governments.

To disable automatic cloud backups:

  • On iPhone: Go to WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > Auto Backup > Off
  • On Android: Go to WhatsApp > Menu > Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > Backup to Google Drive > Never

6.

Beware of Common Scams

Since it's an instant messenger, you might get some scams on WhatsApp periodically. You need to know some of the popular ones and not fall for them. Socially engineered attacks are one way your WhatsApp messages can be hacked.

The most persistent ones talk about a premium version of WhatsApp, "WhatsApp Gold," or your account expiring. No matter how it's worded, the scam is about making you pay for WhatsApp. It shouldn't need to be said, but don't ever pay money for WhatsApp. The company has made it clear that WhatsApp will forever be free.

Read up on the most common WhatsApp scams and how to recognize and avoid WhatsApp spam so you know what to avoid.

7. Get the Official WhatsApp Desktop Apps

To use WhatsApp on your computer, you need to sync your phone with either WhatsApp Web or the WhatsApp desktop apps. To be on the safe side, get the official desktop app.

The main reason for this is that WhatsApp Web can be easily manipulated, the Electronic Frontier Foundation says. It's one of the biggest security threats WhatsApp users are facing. And when the EFF wrote that report, the recommended solution was to provide desktop clients.

Sure, there are better options than the official WhatsApp desktop client, but don't trade in security for a few extra features.

Download: WhatsApp for Windows or Mac (Free)

8. Protect Your Privacy on WhatsApp

WhatsApp isn't the most private messenger out there, but it gives users at least some control. Go to Settings > Account > Privacy to see everything at your disposal.

You can control who can see your Last Seen, profile photo, about, status, and live location. You can also turn off Read Receipts here, so the blue check marks are switched off.

There's no recommendation here, you can choose what works best for you. To learn more, here's everything you need to know about WhatsApp privacy settings and how to keep your photos safe on WhatsApp.

Do You Think WhatsApp Is Safe and Private?

Even with all these features, you should know that WhatsApp isn't completely secure. In fact, there are other more secure communication apps you can try instead. But for 99 percent of regular users, WhatsApp's security protocols should be good enough. Just ensure that you update the WhatsApp app regularly to stay safe from security breaches.

Image Credit: sdecoret/Depositphotos

10 useful tips for every WhatsApp user

April 30, 2020 Android iOS

With their help you will be able to use the messenger to the maximum.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular instant messengers, with the help of which millions of people around the world communicate. However, many users still do not know all the features of the service. And among the latter, by the way, there are very useful ones. Let's talk about those.

1. Set the visibility of personal data

Go to "Settings" → "Account" → "Privacy". Here you can set the visibility of personal data: profile photo, status and information about the last visit. If you want this information to be hidden from everyone, just select the "No one" option.

For iOS, identical settings are found in the "Privacy" item in the account settings.

2. Format messages

Not everyone knows that text in messages can be bolded, written in italics or strikethrough. To do this, you need to put a certain symbol before the word and after it. nine0003

Bold is an asterisk, italic is an underscore, and strikethrough is a tilde. For example: *word*, _word_, ~word~.

3. Reply to a specific message

With active correspondence, the ability to reply to the desired message helps to avoid confusion and misunderstanding. In WhatsApp, this feature is implemented especially conveniently.

All you have to do is swipe on a chat message from left to right and it will attach to your next message, indicating exactly what you replied to. nine0003

Also, to do this, you can simply hold down the message and click on the arrow that appears in the top menu.

4. Add messages to your favorites

Adding a message to your favorites allows you to quickly return to it without using the chat search. This is useful when you need to save some coordinates, a shopping list, a task, and so on.

To add, you just need to hold down any message in the conversation and select the button with the image of an asterisk. It will immediately be added to a special menu, which can be accessed on Android through three dots in the upper right corner, and on iOS through the WhatsApp settings. nine0003

5. Use broadcast messages

General mailing is especially useful when you need to share something with a large number of users without grouping them together. The function is available in the menu by pressing the three dots in the upper right corner. The message will be sent to everyone you mark in your contact list. Their answers will be visible only to you.

6. Check when a message was delivered and read

Not everyone knows that in WhatsApp you can find out the specific time when a person received a message and when he read it. To do this, hold down the desired message in the chat, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select "Info". On iOS, after pinching, select "Data" from the menu. nine0003

This feature is very useful when you can't reach a person and you don't even know if they received your message. Note, however, that this only works if the user has not disabled "Read Receipt" in their privacy settings.

7. Set up individual notifications

Unlike many other messengers, WhatsApp allows you to set up notifications about new messages and calls for each contact or group individually. This allows, for example, not only to turn off the sound signal for messages from a certain person, but also to select some kind of melody specifically for him. nine0003

With this option, you can find out exactly who wrote to you without even looking at the smartphone display. To configure, you need to open the contact or group menu and go to the "Individual notifications" item. There, by checking the box next to "Use", you need to edit the necessary items.

8. Disable automatic media downloads

Disabling this feature is especially useful when roaming, as your mobile operator may charge you a significant fee for downloading data. nine0003

Go to Settings → Data & Storage → Media Startup. You will find three options: "Mobile network", "Wi-Fi" and "Roaming". In each of these items, uncheck the boxes next to "Images", "Audio" and "Video".

9. Change your mobile number without data loss

If you have a new SIM card, this does not mean that you need to create another WhatsApp account. Everything is much easier. Go to "Settings" → "Account" → "Change number". Confirm your old number, enter your new one, and you're done. nine0003

This will quickly transfer all your groups, settings and account information.

10. Password protect WhatsApp

Some things are not meant for prying eyes. In particular, your correspondence in WhatsApp. And if you know that any of your friends or family members like to rummage through other people's messages, then the best solution is to protect WhatsApp with a password. For example, through the ChatLock application.

Download

Price: Free

Read also 🧐

  • How to delete WhatsApp messages when this option is no longer available
  • How to upgrade WhatsApp: 4 handy tools
  • 6 tips to use WhatsApp desktop version more efficiently

[Easy and Effective] How to Hide Whatsapp Chat?

Hi all! Can anyone please guide me how to hide whatsapp chat? I have an iPhone 11 Pro Max with me. Although I have enabled fingerprint blocking on my WhatsApp, I cannot risk exposing some of my highly confidential chats to anyone. Is there a way to keep the chat on my whatsapp where only i can access it? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks" nine0084

Hey! Thank you for contacting me. We wrote this blog to help you keep your WhatsApp chats private. Let's see how to do it.

  • Part 1: Can you have a private chat on whatsapp?
  • Part 2: How to hide whatsapp chat on android?
  • Part 3: How to hide whatsapp chat on iPhone?
  • Part 4: How to hide WhatsApp chat with password?
  • Bonus Tip: How to backup and restore WhatsApp/Viber/LINE/KiK? nine0074

Part 1: Can you have a private chat on whatsapp?

WhatsApp chats are always public. The official version of WhatsApp does not allow its users to have private chats. However, if you want to create a private chat where your messages will be deleted later, you can use the "Disappearing messages" option. Disappearing messages can be kept for up to 7 days. After a week, your chats and media that you have shared with a particular contact will disappear from the chat window. nine0003

To activate you need:

  • Go to WhatsApp chat.
  • Click on the username in the chat.
  • Scroll down and click on Disappearing Messages.
  • Select "On".
  • The recipient will receive a text message stating that disappearing messages are enabled.
  • If you want to disable it, repeat the same procedure and select "Off".

Part 2: How to hide whatsapp chat on android?

After we discovered the disappearing messages feature, let's move ahead and discuss how to hide messages in WhatsApp. There are two popular ways to do this - choose one of the chat options to your liking. nine0003

2.1 How to hide a WhatsApp chat with an archive?

WhatsApp messenger has an option to hide your chats using an option called "Chat Archives". With this tool, users can hide whatever they want from the main screen of the messenger.

Here's how you can archive your WhatsApp chats:

2.2 How to hide WhatsApp chat without archive?

The chat archiving option is great for those chats that are important but you no longer want to interact with. As we said, sending text messages to an archived chat will remove it from the hidden folder. nine0003

Another good solution is to use GBWhatsApp, which is a third party application. If you want to know how to hide WhatsApp chat without archive, please use GBWhatsApp version.

Follow these instructions to hide your chats on GBWhatsApp:

  • Step 1: Back up your chats on your WhatsApp. Then go to your phone settings, find the "Security" option, open it and enable the installation of the application from unknown sources. nine0074
  • Step 2: Remove WhatsApp from your phone after backup. Go to GBWhatsApp official website and download the apk. Once downloaded, click on it and let it install manually on your phone.

  • Step 3: Open the app, enter the same WhatsApp credentials, check the app, and then select the chats you want to hide. Press and hold a chat and then tap the three-dot icon in the top right corner. Click on the hide option and enter the unlock pattern for this chat. Your chat is now hidden. nine0003

  • Step 4: Click on the green WhatsApp icon in the top left corner and your hidden chats will be displayed. If you want to know how to display a chat in GBWhatsApp, select the chat, click on the three dots option and click "Mark as unread". This will show it.

Part 3: How to hide whatsapp chat on iPhone?

First you need to jailbreak your iPhone. Use Tenorshare 4MeKey to jailbreak. Then the rest of the procedure is repeated. nine0003