Tag: whatsapp privacy

WhatsApp Adds Feature to Protect IP Address in Calls for Enhanced Privacy: How to Turn It On

WhatsApp has added a new ‘Protect IP address in calls’ feature that is designed to enhance user privacy when making and receiving calls on the messaging service. You will be able to opt in for a new feature that will hide your IP address when making calls. WhatsApp will relay your calls through the company’s servers instead of directly connecting to the other party and revealing your IP address. The messaging platform says that the new setting is optional and is geared at privacy-conscious users.

Meta’s engineers explain the new feature in a post on the company’s engineering blog, stating that the new ‘Protect IP address in calls’ setting changes how calls between two users are connected on WhatsApp. Like most apps that offer calling features, WhatsApp offers peer-to-peer connectivity — this means that both parties in the call can see each other’s IP addresses.

Relay servers will hide call participants’ IP addresses
Photo Credit: Meta

 

While showing call participants’ IP addresses is required for peer-to-peer calls to work properly, these addresses are unique to each user and can reveal approximate location details about you, along with other details, such as your Internet service provider. These are details that some users might not want to share with unknown callers on the platform.

In order to protect your IP address during calls, WhatsApp will relay all calls through the company’s servers instead of setting up a peer-to-peer connection, effectively masking your IP address and preserving your privacy. You will experience slightly reduced call quality as the calls are routed via a server instead of a direct connection, but WhatsApp states that these conversations will remain end-to-end encrypted so that only call participants can listen to them.

The engineers explain that the new feature to protect IP addresses in calls is aimed at the messaging platform’s most privacy-conscious users, but the setting to enable it will be available to all users on iOS and Android. You can follow these steps to enable the feature on your smartphone.

How to enable the ‘Protect IP address in calls’ feature on WhatsApp

  1. Download the latest version of WhatsApp via the App Store or Google Play store.

  2. Open the WhatsApp settings menu and tap Privacy.

  3. Scroll down and tap Advanced.

  4. Tap the Protect IP address in calls switch to enable the new privacy feature.

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WhatsApp Rolls Out Granular Privacy Controls for About, Last Seen and Profile Photos

WhatsApp is widely rolling out rolling out improved privacy controls to users. The features allow users granular control over their privacy settings, to specify who can see their last seen, about, and profile photo on the messaging app. They were spotted in development last year, after which Meta-owned messaging service began to roll out the feature to beta testers. The privacy improvements come days after the company announced that it was adding support for transferring chats from a smartphone running Android to an iPhone.

The rollout of the granular privacy controls was announced by WhatsApp on Twitter on Thursday. These changes apply to WhatsApp’s privacy settings for last seen, about, and profile photo sections. Users will be able to select specific contacts from their address book to hide parts — or all — of their profile, according to WhatsApp. The messaging service has also updated its frequently asked questions (FAQ) section on its website with the new privacy settings.

The granular privacy settings were previously spotted by a feature tracker in April
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

 

Previously, users on Android and iOS would see three settings — Everyone, My Contacts, and Nobody under the privacy settings for About, Last Seen and Profile Photo. Now, a fourth option My Contacts Except… has been added, allowing users to select some contacts from their address book and hide parts of their profile from them. Others in the user’s contacts should be able to view their WhatsApp profile normally.

The granular privacy controls can come in handy for WhatsApp users who have added contacts that they do not want to share their personal information with. Previously, users would have to remove a person from their contacts to prevent their profile photo, last seen, and about from being shown to specific users, or block them, or set their visibility setting to “Nobody” in the settings. The new privacy setting lets users quickly create a ‘blacklist’ of sorts to hide sections of your profile from specific users.

Earlier this week, WhatsApp also announced that it was rolling out beta support for the ability to transfer chats from an Android smartphone to an iPhone. The messaging service introduced the ability to transfer chats from iOS to an Android smartphone last year. However, WhatsApp also revealed that users need to fulfil certain requirements to transfer their chats, chat history, and media from an Android to an iPhone, including downloading the Move to iOS app and using a factory reset or new iPhone to complete the process.



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