Whatsapp is used globally not just for personal conversations between friends and family, but also important work-related conversations with colleagues. With the latter in mind, it becomes imperative to enable certain privacy features that ensure employees are not being pressured to respond to work texts after working hours. While Whatsapp has been working on numerous updates that increase one’s privacy, the brand has recently begun working on what could be one of the most important updates for working professionals – hiding the Last Seen information from specific people. According to Wabetainfo, Whatsapp has begun testing this feature in its Beta version, and we can expect the same to be rolled out to the masses eventually.
Not all text messages hold equal priority in our lives, and unfortunately, answering texts in specific order can sometimes lead to inquisitive questions about being ignored. This annoying aspect of texting can be done away with if you can hide your Last Seen timestamp from specific people who are likely to keep tabs on you by monitoring the same. For instance, if you receive a spate of client-related messages over the weekend, this can be a huge boon for you as you can continue to reply to personal messages, without being held liable for ignoring work on weekends.
Wabetainfo spotted this feature in WhatsApp beta version 2.21.23.14. According to them, it will work in a similar fashion to new features that let you hide your profile pictures from specific contacts, and hide your status updates from specific contacts.
The option to hide the Last Seen timestamp will be offered with the following parameters – everyone, user’s contacts, user’s contacts except a list of specific people and nobody. Do note that if you disallow someone from viewing your Last Seen, you won’t be able to view theirs either.
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