Facebook-owned messaging platform, WhatsApp, has finally rolled out a new privacy update that will prevent administrators from adding its users to groups without consent.
In a blog post published this week, WhatsApp noted that the move followed increased demands by users to have control of their experience.
For a long time, people decried being added to groups by strangers. Some complained of being added to groups they didn’t want to participate in.
The new Group feature is available on the latest update of Android and iOS devices.
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To enable it, go to Settings in your app, then tap Account > Privacy > Groups and select one of three options: “Everyone,” “My Contacts,” or “My Contacts Except.”
“My Contacts” means only users you have in your address book can add you to groups and “My Contacts Except” provides additional control for who among your contacts can add you to a group.
“In those cases, an admin who can’t add you to a group will be prompted to send a private invite through an individual chat, giving you the choice of joining the group, ” said WhatsApp.
You will have three days to accept the invite before the link expires.
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In its beta release, the feature had a “Nobody” option but WhatsApp replaced it with “My Contacts Except” after receiving feedback from users.
This allows you to choose to exclude specific contacts or “select all” to exclude all contacts.
The new update is rolling out to users around the world who have installed the latest version of the WhatsApp application.
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