WhatsApp will soon allow people to leave groups without notifying other members.
Currently when you leave a WhatsApp group everyone else in the group is notified, potentially creating an awkward situation.
After the update, people will only be able to see you have left a group by clicking on the list of members.
This change, which will be available to users soon, is part of a series of updates coming to WhatsApp which it is calling “privacy features”.
How is WhatsApp being updated?
Along with the possibility of silently leaving groups, WhatsApp is launching a feature that will prevent people from taking screenshots of “view once” messages.
These messages, which can only be seen once before disappearing, are a relatively new feature of WhatsApp, similar to the disappearing messages popularised by Snapchat.
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It is possible to get around the blocking of screenshots by taking a photograph of the screen with another device, but the new feature does add some level of security.
A third change will allow users to limit who is able see when they are online.
Why is WhatsApp making these updates?
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, said in a Facebook post: “We’ll keep building new ways to protect your messages and keep them as private and secure as face-to-face conversations.”
Ami Vora, head of product at WhatsApp, added: “We believe WhatsApp is the most secure place to have a private conversation. And to spread the word about these new features, we’re also kicking off a global campaign, starting with the UK and India, to educate people about how we work to protect their private conversations on WhatsApp.”
