In case you didn’t know, WhatsApp has a Community feature which is essentially a more organised version of running WhatsApp groups and it supports up to 5,000 users. If you don’t want other community members to find out your actual phone number, WhatsApp is finally introducing a new privacy feature which restricts your phone number visibility only to those who have saved you as a contact.
According to WABetaInfo the new phone number privacy feature for community members is currently being rolled out to users who are running on the latest WhatsApp for iOS and Android. The feature provides an additional layer of privacy to hide your phone number from other participants which you do not know.
Typically, the list of participants is hidden under the community announcement group but once a user interacts with a message, they risk exposing their phone number. This is where the new privacy feature aims to address the issue by keeping your number hidden at all times. It is said that the feature has been tested with a very limited group of users before rolling out to the public.
To hide your number, you’ll need to go to the group’s settings and look for “Phone number privacy” below encryption. WABetaInfo says the feature will be extended to other groups in the app. Take note that even with the feature enabled, your phone number is still visible to the community admins as well as other people who have already saved your phone number. Another thing worth highlighting is the admin’s phone number is always visible to all members.
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