WhatsApp may soon give users the option to hide their online status, allowing you to sneak along without anyone else seeing. It is already possible to hide the information about your last online moment. But that is apparently not enough for some users of the app.
When you open WhatsApp on your smartphone and another person also opens that chat, that person sees that you are online. In theory, this does not cause any problems, but in practice it sometimes causes some friction. “Why don’t you respond to my messages, when you’ve just been online?”
Hiding online status on WhatsApp
This is extremely irritating for both parties. First, for the person who receives such a question, but also for the one who feels aggrieved by the behavior of another. It is possible that in the future you will find yourself in situations like this less often; at least, if we are to believe the news update from WABetaInfo.
In fact, in that update we read that WhatsApp is now testing a brand new feature: being able to hide your online status. This means that other people can no longer see that you are online when you use the service. You can enjoy looking at messages and photos, while others do not have to be bothered by anything.
Two options at your disposal
For this functionality, WhatsApp is making two options available – for now. You can set it so that everyone can see that you are online, or you can set it so that the status is equal to the other privacy setting. And then of course we are referring to the function when you were last online.
So you can adjust that everyone or no one sees that you’re online. But you can also set that only your contacts can see that status, or your contacts minus a number of people. It is not yet clear when WhatsApp will roll out the option, but that it is now being tested is indisputable.