A few months back, WhatsApp was spotted testing the possibility to hide your last seen status from specific people on your contacts list. According to a new report from reliable WhatsApp tipster WABetaInfo, WhatsApp has started rolling out the feature in the latest beta version of the app on Android.
Hide Last Seen Status from Specific People on WhatsApp
As WABetaInfo reports, WhatsApp is gradually rolling out the ‘My contacts except…’ option under the Last Seen privacy settings on WhatsApp beta version 2.21.23.14 for Android. Much like how you currently hide stories from someone on WhatsApp, you can pick contacts that shouldn’t see your last seen status.
At this moment, this feature is getting a limited rollout. I checked on a phone running WhatsApp beta 2.21.23.14 and it wasn’t available on my end. To check if you have the feature, open WhatsApp and navigate to Settings -> Account -> Privacy -> Last seen. If available, you will see the new ‘My contacts except…’ option, as you can see in the image below:
It’s worth pointing out that changing this setting won’t affect your online status. Others will continue to see the ‘Online’ indicator under your name in the conversation window even if you have hidden your last seen status. Moreover, you can’t see the last seen status of people you hide your last seen from.
Other than the last seen status, WhatsApp is also working to let you hide your profile picture and About section from select people. Those features are still in the works and not available in the current beta. We will update you when it is available, so stay tuned.
