{"id":6507,"date":"2026-01-06T11:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T06:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/8-whatsapp-features-to-boost-your-security-and-privacy\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T11:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T06:31:11","slug":"8-whatsapp-features-to-boost-your-security-and-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/8-whatsapp-features-to-boost-your-security-and-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"8 WhatsApp Features to Boost Your Security and Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">If some of your chats require extra privacy, you can lock them so they appear in a separate folder away from the main list. Also protected by your face or fingerprint, the <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/faq.whatsapp.com\/764072925284841\/?cms_platform=web\" class=\"external-link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/faq.whatsapp.com\/764072925284841\/?cms_platform=web&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/faq.whatsapp.com\/764072925284841\/?cms_platform=web\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chat Lock<\/a> feature can be enabled by going to the contact\u2019s picture, scrolling down, and tapping <strong>Lock Chat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">If you need to delete conversations in a hurry, WhatsApp allows you to do so in <strong>Settings<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Privacy<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Chat Lock<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Unlock and Clear Locked Chats<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"paywall\">Enable Advanced Security Settings<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paywall\">WhatsApp offers some advanced settings to help protect your account against scammers and prevent revealing your IP address. These settings are super-useful, but they are turned off by default.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">To turn the settings on, go to <strong>Privacy<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Advanced<\/strong>. The first is <strong>Block Unknown Messages<\/strong>, which stops you from being bombarded with high volumes of texts\u2014a common scammer tactic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Next up is the <strong>Protect Your IP Address<\/strong> setting, which ensures your calls are end-to-end encrypted via WhatsApp\u2019s servers. This will prevent your IP address from being revealed, but the quality of your calls may be reduced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Finally, if you enable <strong>Disable Link Previews<\/strong>, the links you send will not generate a preview, which may again reveal your IP address.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"paywall\">Advanced Chat Privacy<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Another key feature for WhatsApp security is <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/faq.whatsapp.com\/715385484388016\/?cms_platform=web\" class=\"external-link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/faq.whatsapp.com\/715385484388016\/?cms_platform=web&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/faq.whatsapp.com\/715385484388016\/?cms_platform=web\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Advanced Chat Privacy<\/a>, which helps prevent people taking your chats outside of the app, auto-downloading media to their phone, and using your messages for AI features.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">To enable the feature for individuals, click the chat you want to edit. Go to <strong>View Contact<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Advanced Chat Privacy,<\/strong> and <strong>turn it on<\/strong>. Just note, you need to enable Advanced Chat Privacy for each individual or group chat you want to apply it to.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">For groups, be aware that anyone can update the setting, but an admin can restrict it. Click the chat you want to edit. Click <strong>Group Info<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Group Permissions<\/strong>. <strong>Turn on Edit Group Setting<\/strong>s. Go back to the <strong>Group page<\/strong> and click <strong>Advanced Chat Privacy<\/strong> and <strong>turn the feature on or off<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">When using Advanced Chat Privacy, be warned that users who aren\u2019t on the latest version of WhatsApp may still be able to share chats outside of the app, such as auto-downloading media\u2014and you won\u2019t be notified if this is the case.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"paywall\">Disable Read Receipts<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paywall\">One of the less private features in WhatsApp is the ability for a recipient to see when you\u2019ve read a message via the blue-tick read receipts. You can disable these, but be aware that it works both ways, and you won\u2019t be able to see when others read your messages. The feature doesn\u2019t apply to group chats. Go to your <strong>Settings<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Privacy<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Read Receipts<\/strong> and <strong>toggle the feature off<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"paywall\">Turn Off Media Downloads<\/h2>\n<p class=\"paywall\">WhatsApp automatically saves the videos and photos sent to your phone, which is annoying to say the least. To prevent this, go to your <strong>Settings<\/strong> &gt; <strong>Chats<\/strong> and <strong>turn off Save to Photos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">At the same time, WhatsApp allows you to send media and voice notes for one-time viewing. Just select the media you\u2019d like to send, but before doing so <strong>tap the \u20181\u2019 icon<\/strong> in the <strong>caption field<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">All that said, WhatsApp says it takes the role of providing private communication \u201cincredibly seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cWe continue to lead the industry in meaningful innovations that protect people\u2019s messages and calls, including through collaboration with security researchers to strengthen our defenses,\u201d WhatsApp spokesperson Ellie Heatrick tells WIRED. \u201cWith every feature we build, we sweat the details to protect what matters most: The ability to communicate privately and securely.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/5-features-that-boost-security-and-privacy-on-whatsapp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If some of your chats require extra privacy, you can lock them so they appear in a separate folder away from the main list. Also protected by your face or fingerprint, the Chat Lock feature can be enabled by going to the contact\u2019s picture, scrolling down, and tapping Lock Chat. If you need to delete [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}