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How to stop adding me in whatsapp group


How to stop others from adding you to WhatsApp groups: Step by step guide

Here is a step by step guide you can follow to enable Group Privacy settings on your smartphone and stop someone from adding you to WhatsApp groups. 

India Today Web Desk

New Delhi,UPDATED: May 7, 2020 15:11 IST

Steps you can follow to enable WhatsApp Group Privacy settings on your smartphone | Represenational image

By India Today Web Desk: Amid of Coronavirus lockdown, WhatsApp has become one of the simplest and safest applications to stay connected with friends and family.

Now, if your family members or friends keep on adding you to a WhatsApp group and you don't want to be part of it, then you can simply stop people from adding you.

You just need to enable Group Privacy settings on your smartphone and no one can add you into a WhatsApp group without your permission.

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The new group privacy settings on WhatsApp are available on both Android and iPhone. Here is a step by step guide you can follow to enable Group Privacy settings on your smartphone and stop someone from adding you to WhatsApp groups.

But before you follow the below-given steps make sure that you have installed the latest version of WhatsApp on your device.

How to stop others from adding you to WhatsApp groups using Android

If you are an Android user, you can follow the below-given steps to stop people from adding you to WhatsApp groups.

Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your Android smartphone.

Step 2: On the home page tap the Menu (three-dots icon on the top-right)

Step 3: From the drop the menu tap Settings.

Step 4: On the new page tap Account and then Privacy.

Step 5: Scroll down tap Groups and select one of the three given options.

  • If you select Everyone option then anyone can add you to groups
  • If you select My Contacts option then only your contacts can add you to WhatsApp groups
  • The third option is My Contacts Except, it lets you allow only selected people to add you to WhatsApp groups.

You can either select contacts one by one or you can even select all contacts by tapping on the Select All icon on the top-right. If you are an iPhone user then you need to follow different steps. Here is a step by step guide you can follow.

How to stop others from adding you to WhatsApp groups on iPhone

Follow the below-given steps to stop others from adding you to WhatsApp groups.

Step 1: Open WhatsApp on your iPhone and on the bottom bar.

Step 2: From the given options tap Settings.

Step 3: Next, tap Account > Privacy > Groups.

Step 4: Just like Android you need to select one of the three given options, Everyone, My Contacts and My Contacts Except.

Here also you can select contacts one by one or you can just select all the contacts by tapping the Select All button on the bottom right. Hence, by following the above-given steps you block WhatsApp group from adding you,

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However, earlier WhatsApp used to allow anyone to add anyone to a WhatsApp group, as long as they had the other person's contact number. But after getting a lot of user feedback, that random person adding others to random WhatsApp groups. WhatsApp has rolled out these group privacy settings for everyone.

READ | How to update WhatsApp to the latest version: Android and iPhone

ALSO READ | How to send WhatsApp group invite via link: A complete guide

Edited By:

Kajari Goswami

Published On:

May 7, 2020

WhatsApp New Feature - How to Stop People From Adding You to the WhatsApp Group Chat; Check Step-By-Step Guide

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This setting lets you set who can add you to groups and, by default, the setting is set to 'Everyone', which means that anyone with your phone number can add you to the group.

It's important to note that even after changing the setting, group admins can still send you an invite link and prompt you to join the group. WhatsApp New Feature - How to Stop People From Adding You to the WhatsApp Group Chat; Check Step-By-Step Guide

The most used instant messaging app in social media platforms WhatsApp has introduced a new feature where people can’t add you to a group without your permission. WhatsApp groups are a great way to stay connected with your family, friends, or even co-workers. But many times, this facility is often taken advantage of by many people to add many people to the group to sell products or promote services. These groups are often created without the participants’ permission and can be irritating. Most of us hate being part of unnecessary groups and often consider whether it is rude to drop out of a group. The best way to get out of this is with a filter that will prevent strangers or anyone from adding you to an unknown group.

WhatsApp has made changes to the group chat settings for this. Through which you can further secure your privacy. By using the setting, you will not be able to add any user to the group without your permission. This feature has been updated by WhatsApp for Android users and iPhone users. This setting lets you set who can add you to groups and, by default, the setting is set to ‘Everyone’, which means that anyone with your phone number can add you to the group. It’s important to note that even after changing the setting, group admins can still send you an invite link and prompt you to join the group.

Follow Step-By-Step Guide to Avoid Random People Adding You to the WhatsApp Group

  1. Open WhatsApp, click on the three dots in the top right corner of the screen.
  2. Click on the Settings option and then tap on Account.
  3. Click on Privacy > Groups. The default setting is likely to be set to ‘Everyone’.
  4. You can choose from three options – ‘Everyone’, ‘My Contacts’, and ‘My Contacts Except’
  5. The ‘Everyone’ option allows any user with your phone number to add you to a group without your permission.
  6. The ‘My Contact’ option only allows users to add you to groups whose numbers you have saved in your contact list.
  7. Whereas the last option ‘My Contacts Except’ lets you choose who can add you to groups by allowing you to further filter and remove contacts that you don’t want to be added to a group.

In this way, if you want that no person should add you to the group, even if you have a contact. So, by selecting ‘My Contacts Except’, you can keep a member of your family in it. Then no one will be able to add you to the WhatsApp group.

Step-By-Step Guide For iPhone User

  1. If you are an iPhone user, you have to go to the settings of the app and tap on Privacy.
  2. After tapping on this privacy, you need to tap on the group option.
  3. For this, you will be given the option of (Everyone, My Contacts, and My Contacts Except) on the next screen.
  4. Here you can choose the option according to you.

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17 ways to make WhatsApp safer and more private

October 23, 2019 Technologies

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

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. nine0003

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.

Read also 🧐

  • 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. nine0003

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. nine0003

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". nine0003

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. nine0003

5. Hide details

Details is the text 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. nine0003

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. nine0003

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. nine0003

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. nine0003

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 makes it easy for you to 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. nine0003

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

Did you appoint someone as an administrator in a group you created, and he abuses 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. nine0003

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. nine0003

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

Read also 🧐

  • WhatsApp on Android now has a fingerprint unlock feature

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. nine0003

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.

Read also 🧐

  • 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. nine0003

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.

Read also 🧐

  • 10 tips for every WhatsApp user
  • How to send photos in original size on WhatsApp
  • The most detailed comparison of Telegram, Viber and WhatsApp

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. nine0003

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 bold, italic 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 instant 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.

Learn more