In a strategic move to bolster user privacy, WhatsApp, the world’s leading messaging application, has introduced a new feature to its Community function, essentially an enhanced and more organized version of the conventional WhatsApp group that supports up to 5,000 users. The new feature restricts the visibility of your phone number, shielding it from community members who haven’t saved you as a contact. This additional layer of privacy is an innovative solution to ensure user security within these broad communication forums.
WhatsApp Communities have revolutionized large-scale communication, offering an organized approach to managing extensive group chats. However, this comes with its own set of challenges, most notably the risk of exposing users’ phone numbers to a broad audience. Addressing this concern, WhatsApp is introducing an additional layer of privacy, allowing users to hide their phone numbers from other community participants they do not know.
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This new feature is already being rolled out to users using the latest version of WhatsApp on both iOS and Android platforms, as reported by WABetaInfo. It has been tested with a very limited group of users before its official public release, ensuring its effectiveness and user-friendliness.
Normally, the list of community participants is concealed under the community announcement group. However, as soon as a user interacts with a message, their phone number becomes visible to others. This privacy feature steps in to resolve this issue, ensuring your phone number remains hidden at all times, adding another layer of security and peace of mind for users.
To activate this feature, users need to navigate to the group’s settings and look for the “Phone number privacy” option located below encryption. As per WABetaInfo, this feature will soon be extended to other groups within the application, enhancing user privacy across the platform.
However, there are a few critical points to bear in mind regarding this feature. Even when the feature is enabled, your phone number will remain visible to community admins and individuals who already have your phone number saved. Additionally, the phone number of the community’s admin will always be visible to all members, ensuring a point of contact for community management and coordination.
This development from WhatsApp highlights the ever-growing emphasis on user privacy within digital communication platforms. By introducing features like this, WhatsApp is making significant strides in protecting user information and enhancing the overall user experience in large community chats.
This news is based on Malay Mail.
