Meta-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp is working on a feature that will allow users to hide their online status from everyone. This will be an extension of the existing part where users can hide their “Last Seen” status from their contacts.
The feature, spotted in a report from WABetaInfo, has been found in an iOS beta version of WhatsApp and is set to come to end-users in a future update. According to the report, the feature is still under development and has not even been launched for beta testers since it is not ready.
Currently, users can choose to display their “Last Seen” information to contacts, some people, or no one. For a future app version, WhatsApp will let users follow a similar approach to their online status, the WABetaInfo report hints.
The new privacy-focused feature is being developed alongside WhatsApp Reports, allowing editing messages after they’ve been sent. It’s been a while since the app started letting users delete messages, but they never got the power to edit them, which is eventually changing in a future update.
In addition, the company is also working on allowing users to delete messages for up to two days and 12 hours, which is just over an hour from the current limit. The ability to edit and delete messages also comes to iMessage on iPhones with iOS 16.
Although this sparked some controversy, being able to edit and delete a message can be very handy when you misspelt a word or send incorrect information to someone in chat.