WhatsApp has long followed an all-or-nothing approach when it comes to letting users tweak the last seen status. At this moment, you can change the privacy settings to let everyone, your contacts, or nobody view when was the last time you were online on the messaging service. However, according to a new report from tipster WABetaInfo, WhatsApp will soon let you pick who shouldn’t see your last seen status and hide it from them.
Hide Last Seen Status from Someone on WhatsApp
Going by the report, WhatsApp is preparing a “My contacts except…” option in the Last Seen privacy setting that you can access from Settings -> Account -> Privacy -> Last seen. Much like hiding WhatsApp status from acquaintances, you can choose to pick contacts to hide your last seen from. This privacy setting will also be available for profile photos and about settings.
With this feature, WhatsApp is offering a healthy balance between maintaining a safe distance from acquaintances while helping users stay close to people they care about. It should, at least in theory, help reduce unwanted interactions and is likely to come as a huge relief to people who are allergic to small talk. Now that we are here, an option to hide ‘online status’ would be lovely.
As is always the case, you won’t be able to see the last seen status of people you hide on WhatsApp. That’s a fair trade-off, considering how you are not sharing yours with them. The ability to hide last seen from specific people is currently in the works and will be available in future builds. As of now, the feature is not generally available on the WhatsApp beta channel. We will update you when that happens, so stay tuned for more information.
