WhatsApp to curb unauthorised message sharing with new feature

WhatsApp is developing an advanced chat privacy feature aimed at enhancing user security by limiting message sharing and adding an extra layer of privacy to conversations.

This new feature is scheduled for release in a future update, WABetaInfo reported, citing the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.10.14 update, which is available on the Google Play Store.

This upcoming feature will allow users of Meta's popular instant messaging app to prevent media from being automatically saved to their device gallery, a restriction currently applied to chats with disappearing messages.

It will offer a suite of privacy protections, such as the restriction on exporting entire chat histories. 

By enabling this optional feature, WhatsApp will be able to block the export of chat histories containing messages from users who have opted into this setting, thus safeguarding private conversations and preventing unauthorised data transfers.

This feature won't prevent message forwarding to maintain usability. Additionally, if advanced chat privacy is enabled, participants in the same conversation will not be able to interact with Meta AI in any way.

At present, the advanced chat privacy functionality is limited to these features. However, since this is an early stage of development, WhatsApp may expand its capabilities in the future, with additional features potentially being introduced based on user feedback and further testing.

Furthermore, there is no indication that WhatsApp is introducing a screenshot detection mechanism to prevent chat screenshots.

The decision not to include screenshot detection is likely because users could still bypass it by using WhatsApp Web or other external methods to capture their screens.

Unlike mobile apps, web clients don't offer built-in protection against screenshots, making it difficult to implement an effective restriction without users finding alternative ways to take screenshots.

In addition, since this feature will still allow messages to be forwarded, implementing screenshot detection for chats would be useless, as users could simply share messages through forwarding instead.

Moreover, it is also important to note that all actions restricted by this optional privacy feature will be enabled when the feature is disabled by the user.