In the middle of you going about your daily business, your phone starts buzzing with texts frantically. The rapid notifications alarm you and you reach into your bag or pocket for the phone. You unlock it in a hurry only to find that you’ve been added on a random Whatsapp group for people who want to sell their things. How annoying, right? You delete the group and exit it, only to have the same thing repeated a few days down the road.
Image courtesy: Twitter.com
Many people have had a huge issue with this aspect of Whatapp’s functionality as it exposes their number to a lot of random contacts. In a country like India, this is a huge security concern for women as any creepy person can have access to their picture and phone number. Moreover, these groups are not just a violation of an individual’s privacy but are also supremely annoying. Lately, many people have even taken to Twitter to complain about being added to random political groups now that elections are on the way. Fortunately, Whatsapp has proven itself to be a brand that listens to the problems of its customers.
In its latest update, Whatsapp now prevents people from adding you to their random groups. If someone tries to add you, you will first receive a notification regarding the same so that you can provide your consent. In order to enable this new functionality, all you need to do is open the app and go to your settings page. Here, you will see an option that says privacy. Click on that. Within this, you will see an option that says groups. You will see three different options regarding your new privacy settings as far as groups are concerned. These include the following:
- Nobody (this option makes sure that no one can add you to any group without gaining your permission first)
- My Contacts (this option makes sure that your contacts can add you to groups without your permission, but it still prevents random people from adding you)
- Anyone (this option makes sure that anyone can add you to any group, irrespective of whether they are your known contacts or not).
At this moment, this setting has been rolled out to some users in India. Within a few days, this should become a globally available setting, making sure that everyone can enjoy the privacy that they deserve. Earlier last year, Whatsapp had also put a limit on forwarded messages when there was an increase in cases in India where fake news incited violence amongst communities. This app is certainly one that values its customer experience and prioritizes the same.
