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WhatsApp has become an increasingly used tool, even at work, so it is necessary to know all shortcuts to protect your privacy.
In recent years, the smartphone has become a fundamental tool in our lives. With just a couple of touches on the screen of our phone, we can connect with anyone anywhere on the planet. However, this era of connectivity also has its B-side: we are always reachable, something that can affect us especially in the workplace. Much more so now that teleworking has become the norm.
How to use WhatsApp shortcuts to protect your privacy?
Sometimes, this hyperconnectivity we have can generate more than a few health problems, as we are unable to disconnect from our work routines. Especially in the case of WhatsApp, the most powerful tool on the market in this regard: however, this ‘app’ offers several solutions to try to protect our privacy as much as possible. Do you know what they are? We detail them below so you can protect your privacy as much as possible.
Last seen time
WhatsApp offers the option for anyone to see when you last used the application. If you want to avoid anyone knowing, it’s as simple as entering ‘Settings’, ‘Account’, and ‘Privacy’ and clicking on ‘Last time’. Once inside, we can choose to let everybody see it, only our contacts see it or nobody sees it. In the latter case, we avoid that no one can see when we have entered WhatsApp for the last time.
Double blue tick
Similarly, WhatsApp has a system to let users know if one of their notifications has been read by the recipient of the message: the so-called double blue tick. The problem is that, if we don’t want someone to know that we have read their message, this tool gives us away. How to remove it? Very simple: go to ‘Settings, ‘Account’ and ‘Privacy’ and then disable the ‘Read confirmation’ option. However, it is important to know that by doing this we will also not be able to see if someone else has received our messages.
However, despite having taken these precautions, there is one type of message that still shows the double blue ‘check’: the audios. But there is a trick to make sure it doesn’t show up either and that we have absolute privacy: To do this, we must create a group of two people and then delete the other user. In this way, we have faked a group in which we are the only member. This way, it is as easy as forwarding the audio to that group before playing it and, there, listening to it: we will be able to play it without any problem and the double blue ‘check’ will never appear in the original chat.
Display online status
Even though we have removed the last hour of connection and the double blue ‘check’, WhatsApp users can still see if we are currently online by opening a chat with us. This option cannot be removed, although there is a trick to read a chat without appearing online. After receiving a WhatsApp message (or several in a row), it is essential not to open it: first, we must disconnect the wifi and our mobile data and then click on the notifications that appear on the blocked screen. This way, we will access the interior of the chat and read all the messages without at any time to the other user appearing that we are online. However, to receive new messages, we must activate our phone’s connections again.
Message preview
Another problem we may encounter has to do with when we are with more people, such as at work. In this case, when we receive a WhatsApp message with a blocked screen, by default we see who has written to us and the content of the message. The most radical option to avoid is to disable the notifications of WhatsApp, but in this case, we will not know that they have written to us.
An intermediate solution, but with great results, is to allow the notifications, but disable the preview: to do this, we must enter ‘Configuration’, ‘Notifications’ and then disable the option ‘Preview’. This way, we will avoid that the messages we receive are exposed to the eyes of others and avoid problems. We have all experienced this: who hasn’t been showing a photo on their cell phone and received a message that made them feel bad?
Secret chats
Another option WhatsApp allows us is to hide chats so that no one sees them at first glance. Or, put another way, so that despite having active conversations, they do not appear in the chat list without having to delete them and lose their content. To do this, it’s as easy as archiving it: clicking on the chat in Android or sliding to the left in iOS, this option appears.
But, attention, the chat is archived as long as it is not active. Or, in other words, if we receive a new notification, it will disappear from the archive and be placed back in the general list. How can we avoid this? It is as easy as silencing that particular chat. By doing this, we will avoid it being activated, although we don’t know if they have written to us either, so we will have to check the conversations manually to find out.
Hide WhatsApp Web
As it is increasingly common to use WhatsApp at work, many of us use WhatsApp Web, because it is more convenient and accessible. The problem is that we leave all our information exposed on a big screen. However, there is an extension for Chrome that allows us to safeguard our privacy: it is Privacy Extension For WhatsApp Web and allows us to keep control over any element of the application.
Once installed, an eye will appear next to the address bar and, by clicking on it, we can activate or deactivate all the options. This way, we can pixelate all the chat messages, the names of the people we talk to, the multimedia, the profile images, or even the preview of the text we are writing. But we don’t delete it: by putting the mouse over it, we will see the information again normally. But, at least, we avoid that all our data and those of our contacts are exposed to third parties.
