WhatsApp introduced group privacy settings earlier this year, offering users control over who can add them to group conversations. This prevents users from adding them to random groups, creating a nuisance, and re-adding them once they leave. The messaging giant today introduces a minor change to this feature that does make a lot of sense.
You were earlier offered the option to not allow anyone from randomly adding you to a group chat. You could choose the “Nobody” option to enable this privacy feature, but it seems some users were frustrated by its functionality. Hence, WhatsApp is tweaking it slightly to introduce a new Blacklist option.
The “Nobody” option under the Groups privacy setting has been phased out in the new WhatsApp beta update (build number 2.19.300) today. It has been replaced by a “My Contacts Except” option, which allows you to exclude contacts who can add you to groups without your consent. It was first spotted by WABetaInfo.
You can check out this feature by navigating to “Account -> Privacy -> Groups” in the WhatsApp settings to find the new option. If you had chosen “Nobody” in the past, you would see that it’s been greyed out as it’s no longer available. The blacklist feature will require all your contacts to send a request to join groups whereas those excluded here, including family members and friends you trust, can add you to groups directly without your permission.
WhatsApp has also introduced a group setting feature to allow users to see over the group’s functioning and choose who can or cannot send messages, be the admin and more. We haven’t seen many changes to this feature, but the messaging giant has now started working on developing new features – especially the dark theme. The company’s working on ephemeral messaging to take on Snapchat, Telegram, and all other popular messaging apps.
