WhatsApp Will Soon Let You Hide Your 'Last Seen' Status From Specific Contacts

WhatsApp is working on giving users the option to adjust the visibility of their "Last Seen" status on a contact-by-contact basis, according to a new report from forthcoming-feature specialist WABetaInfo.

Whatsapp Feature
As regular WhatsApp users will know, the "Last Seen" status of a contact sits atop the conversation thread, informing you when that contact last opened and was active on the app.

Currently, you can disable your "Last Seen" status so that other contacts can't see when you were last online, but the setting's options are limited to "Everyone," "My Contacts," and "Nobody," and there's no way to make exceptions for individual contacts.

However, that looks set to change, based on options unearthed by WABetaInfo in a beta version of WhatsApp. In the Privacy settings, the messaging platform is adding the option "My Contacts Except..." which will let you select specific contacts so that they don't see when the last time was that you were active on the messaging network.

Whatsapp PRIVACY SETTINGS MY CONTACTS EXCEPT IOS
Although it's worth noting that if you disable your last seen status for specific contacts, you won't be able to see theirs either.

The new "My Contacts Except..." option is also evident in the privacy settings for a user's profile picture and "About" information, indicating WhatsApp's intention to bring more granular settings to the app's privacy options as a whole.

As usual, it's unclear when the new options will go live, but given they were discovered on iOS, expect them to appear on iPhone first, with the Android version to follow.

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Top Rated Comments

0194839 Avatar
50 months ago
I’d rather see they add the option: “to appear offline”.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NARadyk Avatar
50 months ago
Aka, all work related people.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Seanm87 Avatar
50 months ago
I turn this off for everyone. Why does anyone need to see when I last looked at my phone? Creepy as hell

They also need to stop read receipts for group chats. You can disable it for so single chats but not group. Why?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
daxiel22 Avatar
50 months ago
Can they just focus on multi-device feature please?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mrjetsondc Avatar
50 months ago
My mom LOVES what’s app but I won’t touch it. Anything Facebook has its hands in I avoid.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Germany12Points Avatar
50 months ago

I’d rather see they add the option: “to appear offline”.
Exactly! I will only install WhatsApp when no one can see that I am currently using the app. I find it IMPOSSIBLE that this is not possible until today!
Hope dies last.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)