WhatsApp will enable shielding ‘now online’ status in the future

WhatsApp is working on the option to completely shield your ‘online now’ status. That was already possible with regard to the ‘last seen’ status, but users felt that that did not offer enough privacy.

The WhatsApp specialists of Write WABetaInfo that the feature is coming for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. The feature is not actually in WhatsApp yet, not even in the beta. WABetaInfo doesn’t divulge how they found out, just reporting that WhatsApp is working on it. It is not known when the function will actually come.

The ‘online now’ status will appear at the top of a chat window if the other person is currently on WhatsApp. Many users find it undesirable that others can see when you have the app open. The most recent privacy-focused update to WhatsApp already made it possible to hide your profile picture, profile text and ‘last seen’ status from specific contacts or everyone, but the ‘now online’ status was not addressed at the time, much to the dismay of commentators. That will soon change.

If users shield their ‘now online’ status, they will not be able to see the same status with others. The same has always been true for all privacy-oriented options in the app. For example, WhatsApp’s blue check marks are also not visible to others if you do not want to share them yourself.

Screenshot is from iOS, but WABetaInfo assures readers that all platforms will get this (Image: WABetaInfo)