WhatsApp users may soon be able to use the app without letting anyone know they are online.
WhatsApp owner Meta is working on a new update that will let users hide their online status, according to WhatsApp news site WABetaInfo.
The update will follow a previous change that lets users choose who can see when they were last online – meaning you will be able to make your online status public for some people but not for others.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Newstalk Tech Correspondent Jess Kelly outlined the changes.
“This is one I’m really excited about because it is all about that privacy and control,” she said. “They are two things I am very interested in.”
“Sometimes you just want to dip on to a platform. You don’t want to let people know you’re there. You don’t want them to see you are there, maybe engaging in conversations and all the rest, so I am all about this one.”
She said the change comes after a number of other significant updates this year.
“There have been a whole lot of features introduced that give people a bit more control over how they use, when they use it and what they use it for,” she said.
“One of the big ones that came in earlier this year is WhatsApp Communities. Say for example you’re involved in a local sports team or drama club or whatever it is and you want to use WhatsApp to communicate all those messages, you can set it up through WhatsApp Communities and it is a very easy, segregated and clean way of getting messages out to people.”
She said the app also now lets users pause while they are recording voice notes.
Other recent updates include the new reactions, which allow users to react to messages instead of replying and the new “one-view send,” which lets you send a photo of message that will disappear after it is viewed.
You can listen back to the Tech Check chat with Jess on Newstalk Breakfast here: