WhatsApp wants to enable shielding from ‘now online’ status

WhatsApp wants its users to be able to disable their ‘now online’ status in the future. It was already possible to shield the ‘last seen’ status, but people have a greater need for privacy.

Now online

When you used to text, you had no idea when someone had read it. Nowadays we expect more of this: many people check their WhatsApp several times during the day. However, not everyone feels the need to share their WhatsApp status: perhaps to avoid a fight when they do not want to respond to what someone else is saying, or because they actually have to pay attention in a course and colleagues do not have to see that they are secretly are on whatsapp. That status can be seen: even if you have protected everything, people can still see under your name at the top that you are ‘now online’, when that is the case.

WABetaInfo writes that the beta of the app shows that the function would be coming to turn that off too. The option isn’t there yet, not even in beta, but it points to it being in the future. It would be a positive development, so that people cannot call each other to account that they have been online but that they have not responded to a message. Some WhatsAppers prefer that others cannot see when they have the app open and that cannot be protected at the moment.

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It is hoped that hiding that ‘online now’ status will work just like the ‘last seen’ status, in that you can hide it from specific contacts or from everyone. Moreover, it works just like with the blue check marks: if you have them turned off yourself, you can’t see them with others. Ultimately, WhatsApp should be as pleasant as possible for everyone to use, so it’s good that there is a choice in how your status is shared.

Are you happy that this feature is likely to come, or are you not looking forward to it? Leave it in the comments.