WhatsApp tips: How to prevent strangers from adding you to groups without permission

For many WhatsApp users, the experience has often turned bitter, even stressful and frustrating, because of some people adding them to groups that have uncomfortable conversations. Here are some WhatsApp tips that will ensure these nasty experiences don't happen.

WhatsApp tips: Groups are useful to keep in touch with family and friends, but not everyone should be allowed to add you to them without your permission. (REUTERS)

WhatsApp is a feature-rich app, which offers a wide range of settings that protect users' privacy, including hiding profile photos, last seen status and much more. This means that other users on the app will not be able to see the previously mentioned information if they are not on their contact list. It allows users to ensure only those with whom they want to share their personal information are able to access it and not strangers. When it comes to groups, WhatsApp offers similar settings to protect users privacy while they are using the app, but sometimes even that is not enough to stop uncomfortable and nasty conversations from happening. Many times, while chatting with your family, friends and colleagues, someone takes advantage of the feature that can add any user to any group. It leads to users having to see text, photos, videos, spam messages that they are not at all interested in. Sometimes even more unpleasant conversations happen.

The settings to enable group privacy can be found in your WhatsApp settings.  (Android Authority via WhatsApp)

The settings to enable group privacy can be found in your WhatsApp settings.  (Android Authority via WhatsApp)

Well, people who face problems like this, have a solution at hand because WhatsApp offers a method to block this unseemly behaviour by strangers. This way, users can create an eco-system that is to their liking, which enables fun conversations with friends and family or productive chats with colleagues at work. So, here's how you can block strangers from adding you to groups on WhatsApp without your permission. Remember the instructions are for WhatsApp users on Android devices.

Step 1) On WhatsApp for Android, tap the three-dot menu at the top right side, then tap on Settings.

Step 2) In the WhatsApp Settings menu, tap on the Account setting. Now tap on Privacy and select the Groups option.

Step 3) Check your privacy settings for the groups section. By default, the setting should be Everyone, but that means everyone can add you as long as they have your number. It is better to select the My Contacts option or My Contacts Except, which lets you exclude a few contacts from adding you to groups.