WhatsApp, the popular messaging app, is taking another step towards improving user privacy within its communities. Following the recent announcement of an updated interface for the communities tab, WhatsApp is now introducing a new phone number privacy feature for community members.
Understanding the New Phone Number Privacy Feature
The phone number privacy feature has been quietly tested over the past few months and is now being rolled out to a wider user base. Its primary function is to ensure that community members’ phone numbers remain hidden from other participants. Although the participants list is already concealed within the community announcement group, users were unable to interact with the group through message reactions without revealing their phone numbers. This new feature resolves that issue, allowing users to add reactions to messages while keeping their phone numbers hidden.
Upon accessing the community announcement group info, users will notice a new option called “phone number privacy.” By enabling this feature, individuals are alerted that their phone numbers will only be visible to community administrators and people who have saved them as contacts. As a result, other participants in the community will not be able to view their complete phone numbers during conversations. It is important to note that this feature applies exclusively to community members, and the phone number of the community administrator remains visible.
The introduction of the phone number privacy feature offers a significant advantage in terms of user anonymity and privacy. Community members can now interact with the community announcement group without revealing their full phone numbers, such as when adding a reaction to a message. Although some users already had the ability to react to messages within the community, this new feature expands that functionality. Furthermore, WhatsApp plans to extend the phone number privacy feature to other groups in the future. If a user privately contacts a community member with a hidden phone number, they will have the option to send a request to share their phone number.
The phone number privacy feature is currently available to beta testers who have installed the latest WhatsApp update on Android and iOS devices. It will be gradually rolled out to more users in the coming days. Additionally, WhatsApp is actively working on other features, including sticker suggestion, a convenient chat list filter, and high-quality video sharing, as part of its ongoing commitment to enhancing the user experience.
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