8 WhatsApp Security Features You Should Enable Now

Meta’s end-to-end encrypted messaging app is used by billions of people. Here’s how to make sure you’re one of the most locked-down ones out there.

Managing your personal information is the first step toward a more secure messaging experience. The platform provides granular control over who can see your activity and identity. By default, your Last Seen and profile information might be visible to everyone in your contacts, but you can easily restrict this.

Users can choose from three visibility options for their 'Last Seen' and profile photo: Everyone, My Contacts, or Nobody. This allows you to tailor your privacy settings based on your comfort level. Additionally, you can control who can add you to groups, preventing unwanted additions and spam.

Key settings to review include:

• Last Seen & Online: Control who sees when you were last active.
• Profile Photo: Choose who can view your picture.
• About: Manage the visibility of your status message.
• Groups: Restrict who can add you to new conversations.

For conversations that require an extra layer of privacy, the app offers tools to make messages disappear. Disappearing Messages can be turned on for individual chats, ensuring that messages are automatically deleted after a set period, such as 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days.

Another powerful tool is the View Once media feature. This allows users to send photos and videos that can only be viewed a single time before they disappear from the chat. This is particularly useful for sharing sensitive information like passwords or private moments without leaving a permanent digital trace.

These features work together to minimize the long-term storage of personal data within the application, giving users peace of mind that their conversations remain private.

To prevent unauthorized access to your account, enabling Two-Step Verification is a critical measure. This feature adds a personal identification number (PIN) that you will be asked for when registering your phone number with the app on a new device. Without this PIN, access to the account is blocked, even if someone manages to obtain your SMS verification code.

In addition to account-level security, the platform offers features to protect specific conversations. The Chat Lock feature allows you to move sensitive chats into a separate, password-protected folder. This ensures that even if someone has access to your phone, they cannot open these locked conversations without your specific biometric or password authentication.

These security layers provide robust protection against account takeovers and privacy breaches.

Users have significant control over who can contact them and how. If you are receiving messages from unknown numbers, you can adjust your settings to filter these out. The app can automatically silence calls from unknown numbers, reducing spam and potential scams.

For more direct control, the Block feature is available for any contact or unknown number. When you block a user, they can no longer see your 'Last Seen' status, profile updates, or send you messages. This is an effective tool for maintaining personal boundaries and safety on the platform. By utilizing these interaction controls, users can create a safer and more curated messaging environment.