WhatsApp working on improved privacy settings for desktop app, says leaker

A popular feature leaker has revealed that WhatsApp is working on bringing improved privacy settings for Last Seen, Profile Picture and About to its desktop app, after working on similar features for Android and iOS.

We have previously covered how WhatsApp has been working on new privacy settings that are expected to allow users to hide their Last Seen, Profile Picture and About from certain contacts (REUTERS)

WhatsApp has been adding several new features to the messaging app over the past year, from multi-device support allowing users to add up to four devices in addition to their smartphone, a new View Once mode for messages, a new Archive mode for chats, iOS to Android chat transfers and improvements to group calling. The service has also been working on improving the privacy settings on iOS and Android, and will soon bring these settings to the desktop version of the app, according to a new leak.

We have previously covered how WhatsApp has been working on new privacy settings that are expected to allow users to hide their Last Seen, Profile Picture and About from certain contacts. These settings allow users to hide or show certain parts of their profile to certain contacts - this means that users who are excluded will not be able to see these sections. While the company was working on these settings for WhatsApp for Android and iOS, the latest beta version of WhatsApp Desktop finally shows these settings as well, according to a leak shared by feature leaker WABetaInfo.

The new WhatsApp Desktop privacy features spotted by the feature leaker.  (WABetaInfo)

The new WhatsApp Desktop privacy features spotted by the feature leaker.  (WABetaInfo)

For the average user, this means that when you hide your Last Seen, Profile Picture and About from specific contacts, they will not be able to see those profile sections. However, there's a catch - if you hide your Last Seen from a contact, you will also be unable to see their Last Seen as well. This will apply to every contact that you have excluded from the list.

If you have access to the latest beta version of WhatsApp Desktop, you will still not be able to see the new setting just yet – the company is still working on the feature, according to the leaker. In the screenshot shared by the leaker, the underdevelopment settings are shown that include four settings that will let users hide various parts of their profile from specific contacts. These include the existing Everyone, My contacts, Nobody, as well as the new “My contacts except..”setting.