Profile photo, “About” text field and “Last seen” status can be hidden from selected contacts

Whatsapp read receipts can be disabled in private chats.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is always part of conversations when it comes to data protection and privacy. Now the group has donated new settings for its successful messenger Whatsapp, which should at least make it possible to hide certain information from one’s own contacts.

Whatsapp announced via Twitter that a function is now being rolled out with which the profile photo, the “About” text field and the “Last seen” status can be hidden from selected contacts.

Tweets by WhatsApp

Accordingly, the following visibility options can be selected for said information once the rollout is complete:

• Everyone: The “last seen” timestamp, profile picture, about or status is visible to all Whatsapp users.
• My contacts: The “last seen” timestamp, profile picture, about or status is only visible to contacts in the address book.
• My contacts except…: The “last seen” timestamp, profile picture, about or status is visible to all contacts in the address book – except for those who are explicitly excluded.
• Nobody: Nobody can see the “last seen” timestamp, profile picture, about or status.

It is also still possible to disable read receipts for your own messages in bilateral chats. However, the deactivation then works automatically in the other direction, so the two users cannot see from each other when the other has received or read the message. However, this option only applies to one-on-one chats; read receipts are always sent in Whatsapp group chats. (stm, 18.6.2022)