WhatsApp is still the most popular way to communicate and for most people, it replaces your normal voice calls and SMS. While Malaysia is cracking down on spam and scam calls on the telco side, most syndicates are moving their activities to WhatsApp. If you’ve been receiving weird calls from unknown overseas numbers, WhatsApp is finally addressing that with its new privacy features.
According to WhatsApp, privacy remains the driving force behind what they are building and they have been rolling out new features on top of its end-to-end encryption. Besides introducing Chat Lock and Disappearing Messages, WhatsApp has announced two new features to improve user privacy.
WhatsApp Silence Unknown Callers
If you want to keep spam and scam calls at bay, WhatsApp is finally giving users the ability to silence unknown callers. If an unknown number tries to call your WhatsApp number, it won’t ring on your phone. However, the call details and the record will still be visible in your call list, just in case the unsaved number is from someone important.
Truecaller has recently announced that it will be working on its support for WhatsApp. With its crowd-sourced database, this can tremendously help to block calls and messages from known scam numbers and accounts.
WhatsApp Private Checkup feature
To keep users better informed about their current privacy settings, WhatsApp is also introducing Privacy checkup. This essentially provides a quick glance and step by step checklist to go through your WhatsApp privacy settings and to help you decide how to strengthen the security of your messages, calls and information. You can choose what information can be revealed to people who are not in your contact list, who can contact you and toggle additional privacy settings.
WhatsApp is also kicking off a campaign to encourage people to check up with their contacts and friends in private. WhatsApp wants you to do so via private message on WhatsApp to let your friends and loved ones know that they have a safe place to open up and discuss private matters in confidence.
Besides improving privacy, WhatsApp has been rolling out more features including the ability to send photos in higher HD quality as well as running the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices. From the looks of it, WhatsApp appears to be switching from mobile numbers to usernames for account ID. If you currently have multiple WhatsApp numbers, you may soon be able to run several WhatsApp accounts on the same phone.
Related reading
- WhatsApp will soon let you run multiple accounts on the same phone. Here’s how it looks like
- Upcoming WhatsApp feature lets you send photos in HD quality or as smaller, lower res images
- WhatsApp may force you to pick a username soon
- Made an embarrassing typo? WhatsApp now lets you edit your sent messages
