WhatsApp has been working on this feature for the past few months. It was first spotted in development in early July for the iOS app. The development for the Android version also began later that month. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg officially announced the ability to hide online status on WhatsApp last month. It is now rolling out to bets testers, hinting at an imminent public release.
Users can hide their online status on WhatsApp. In the messaging app, you may now specify who can view your online status, just as you could before with your Last Seen setting. Some Android beta testers presently have access to the new capability. If all goes according to plan, there should be a wider deployment in the upcoming weeks.
Highlights
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Below the last seen setting is a new menu from where you can control your online status. You get two options here: Everyone and Same as last seen. If you select the former, anyone on WhatsApp can see when you’re online. This is regardless of whether you have saved the other party’s phone number on your device. This is essentially how WhatsApp works currently. You can’t prevent anyone from seeing that you’re online.
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Once available, you can control your online status from the same settings page as the last seen status. The last seen settings menu has been renamed as Last seen and online. To change your online status setting, you have to navigate to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy > Last seen and online. Here, you’ll find the same four options for the last seen status: Everyone, Nobody, My contacts, and My contacts except
As said earlier, this new WhatsApp feature is currently available to bets testers. According to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp beta version 2.22.20.9 for Android brings the ability to hide online status. Hopefully, a public rollout isn’t too far away. You can click the button below to download the latest stable version of WhatsApp from the Google Play Store.
The second option gives you an added layer of privacy. You can configure your online status the same way as last seen. As such, you can completely hide your online status from everyone, let all of your saved contacts see it, or manually select the contact who can see it. As expected, hiding your last seen or online status will prevent you from seeing that info about other users.