WhatsApp has introduced a new feature to address the issue of spam calls and enhance user privacy. Following an increase in complaints about spam calls from users in India, WhatsApp’s largest market, the messaging app has implemented a call silencing feature.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, announced the new feature along with a privacy checkup option. The call silencing feature allows users to automatically silence incoming calls from unknown contacts, providing them with more privacy and control over their communication.
To activate this option, users can navigate to Settings > Privacy > Calls and select the “Silence unknown caller” option. While calls from unknown numbers will be silenced, they will still be visible in notifications and the app’s call list. This enables users to check later if the call was from someone they know but don’t have saved in their contacts.
When a call is received from an unknown number, the phone will display the number along with the message “silenced unknown number,” indicating that the call has been automatically muted.
In addition to the call silencing feature, WhatsApp has introduced a privacy checkup feature that appears in the Privacy section of the app. This checkup guides users through various steps to familiarize them with different privacy controls available. It covers areas such as choosing who can contact them, controlling personal information, enhancing privacy in chats, and adding extra protection to their account. Through this process, users can adjust settings like two-factor authentication, group invitation preferences, disappearing messages timer, and profile picture visibility.
These new features aim to empower WhatsApp users in managing their privacy settings and tackling the issue of unwanted calls, providing them with a more secure and personalized messaging experience.
