WhatsApp’s latest feature: Finally, you can choose who adds you in a group

WhatsApp’s latest feature adds privacy settings for groups. Here’s how it works .

WhatsApp gives users control over being added to groups. (Bloomberg)

Tired of those annoying groups on WhatsApp? The latest update now prevents others from adding users to groups without their permission.

WhatsApp's group invitation feature was first spotted on beta, and it is now available for all users. WhatsApp has started rolling out the update for some users starting today, and it will be available for all globally within the next few weeks. You can manually check if you've received the feature by updating WhatsApp to the latest version.

How it works

WhatsApp basically added a privacy section for groups.

Users can find it by going to the 'Settings' menu, and then selecting Account > Privacy > Groups.

Under Groups, users can choose either "Nobody", "My Contacts", or "Everyone".

Each option is self explainable with 'My Contacts' will allow only the user's contacts to add them on WhatsApp groups, and 'Everyone' will let even unsaved contacts add users.

Choosing "Nobody" will initiate a private add request to join the group. An invitation to join the said group will be sent to the users through a private chat.

WhatsApp gives users three days to accept the request, after which it will expire.

WhatsApp already provides these security features for profile photo, last seen and status. Accordingly, users can adopt the same features for groups as well. WhatsApp is currently working on other interesting features like dark mode, fingerprint authentication for Android and background play for Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode. These features are in beta testing but not available for public beta as yet.