WhatsApp is introducing a small flurry of privacy-minded tweaks into the messaging app, the company announced on Tuesday. The Meta-owned globally ubiquitous messaging service says the changes aim to give users more control over their experience while introducing “added layers” to protect their private communications.
After iOS beta testing, WhatsApp has started testing for screenshot blocking feature on the Android beta version now. The new update will prevent the users from taking screenshots to view images and videos, the media reported.
Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced three new privacy features on WhatsApp, giving users more control over their conversations and adding layers of protection when messaging.
Screenshot blocking was one of that features and was under development on WhatsApp beta for iOS, and has not been spotted on Android beta by the WhatsApp beta tracker website WABetaInfo.
Not allowing people to take screenshots of view-once messages is vital, otherwise the whole point of the feature is moot. Having said, we would prefer that WhatsApp not only blocks taking screenshots but also alerts the user at the other end for effective results.
In addition to this, WhatsApp has recently offered a slew of updates that gives you more features. You can have a WhatsApp message unsend for up to 2 days, which is now available to both iOS and Android smartphone users across the globe. The Meta-owned platform is bringing other privacy tools to the messaging app in the coming weeks.
The company has made other efforts over the years. Last fall, it closed one possible weak spot in its encrypted messaging service, adding end-to-end encryption for backups stored in the cloud.