WhatsApp glitch that hid ‘Last seen’, ‘Online’ status fixed: Here’s what happened

The glitch had changed one of the privacy settings and was not letting users change it.

On WhatsApp the only time both the ‘Last seen’ and ‘Online’ status are hidden is when your privacy settings are set to let ‘Nobody’ see your ‘Last seen’ status. (Pixabay)

Last night popular messaging app WhatsApp suffered a glitch. Users were unable to see the ‘last seen' and ‘online' status that you usually get to see when you are chatting with someone. This status can be spotted right below the contact name on top of the chat window.

This did not affect the chats at all, but it meant that the glitch involved a privacy issue. On WhatsApp the only time both the ‘Last seen' and ‘Online' status are hidden is when your privacy settings are set to let ‘Nobody' see your ‘Last seen' status.

As expected, when users checked privacy settings they saw that the ‘Who can see' your ‘Last seen' status had been changed to ‘Nobody' due to the glitch. If you tried to change it, you would be greeted with an error message asking you to try again later.

The glitch has been fixed now and your privacy settings are back to normal. (HT Tech)

The glitch has been fixed now and your privacy settings are back to normal. (HT Tech)

The glitch has been fixed now and your privacy settings are back to normal. This means if you had previously set your settings to ‘Nobody' or ‘Everybody' or ‘My contacts' - it has reverted to that and also can be changed now if you want.

WhatsApp has not said anything about this glitch yet and frankly, if you think about it, it's not too much of a ‘glitch' to be really worried about. And it is definitely not an outage as many people called it.

The chats were working absolutely fine and in fact, that your status is not visible to anyone was quite a relief. WhatsApp has that option built into the privacy settings and you can always activate it. But there was something weirdly liberating about not seeing “Typing…” and “Online” under the contact name.

However, if the glitch worried you, fret not, it's no longer there. You can go back to stalking people's ‘Last seen' and worry about why they are not responding even though they have read your message and are online.