WhatsApp offers several features and settings that allow you to use the app in a "private mode" or with enhanced privacy controls to keep your chats and activity hidden or secure:
Privacy Settings to Go "Private" on WhatsApp
- You can customize who sees your last seen, online status, profile photo, about info, and status updates by choosing among options like Everyone, My Contacts, My Contacts Except..., or Nobody. Setting these to "Nobody" makes you invisible in these respects
- You can disable read receipts so others won't know when you've read their messages; however, this also means you won't see theirs. Read receipts are always sent in group chats
- You can silence calls from unknown numbers to avoid unwanted contacts
- WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption by default, meaning only you and the recipient can read your messages and calls; not even WhatsApp can access them
- You can enable disappearing messages to have messages automatically delete after a set time
- You can lock your most personal chats with a password or biometric lock, hiding them from the main chat list and preventing others from seeing them on your phone. Locked chats are moved to a separate "Locked Chats" folder and notifications from these chats show no message details
How to Enable "Hidden Mode" or Private Chat Features
- To appear offline or invisible, go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen & Online, and set it to "Nobody"
- Turn off read receipts in Settings > Privacy to hide when you've read messages
- To lock private chats, use the new Chat Lock feature (if available on your device) which secures individual chats with a password or fingerprint, hiding them from the main chat list and notifications
- For typing messages without others seeing the typing indicator, you can type while your phone is in airplane mode and send the message after turning airplane mode off
Summary
WhatsApp's "private mode" isn't a single toggle but a combination of privacy settings and features including:
- Controlling visibility of your online status and last seen
- Disabling read receipts
- Locking individual chats with passwords or biometrics
- Using disappearing messages
- Silencing unknown callers
- Leveraging end-to-end encryption for secure messaging
These options let you maintain privacy and control over who sees your activity and chats on WhatsApp
. If you want to activate these, you typically go to Settings > Privacy in WhatsApp and adjust the relevant options according to your privacy needs.
