WhatsApp has rolled out a significant privacy upgrade that allows users to prevent others from taking screenshots, forwarding messages, or exporting conversations. The new Advanced Chat Privacy feature represents one of the messaging platform’s most substantial privacy enhancements in recent years, giving users unprecedented control over their communications.
The feature, which began rolling out this week to WhatsApp’s global user base, enables users to establish enhanced protection for sensitive conversations by eliminating common methods of content sharing. Unlike traditional messaging controls, this new system prevents recipients from capturing or redistributing message content through technological restrictions rather than mere policy enforcement.
“With Advanced Chat Privacy, users can ensure their most sensitive conversations remain truly private,” explained a WhatsApp spokesperson. “This builds upon our commitment to end-to-end encryption by addressing what happens to messages after they’re received.”
The new privacy controls can be applied to both individual and group conversations through the chat settings menu. When activated, participants will see a notification indicating that advanced privacy has been enabled, along with an explanation of the resulting limitations. The setting can only be modified by the person who initially enabled it, ensuring consistent protection across the conversation.
Security experts have praised the update as addressing a longstanding vulnerability in messaging privacy. While end-to-end encryption has protected messages in transit, previously there were limited protections against authorized recipients sharing content beyond the intended audience. The new controls help close this gap by technically restricting redistribution methods.
However, the feature has generated some controversy regarding data retention. When Advanced Chat Privacy is enabled, the protected conversations cannot be included in backups or exported from the app. For users who rely on backups to preserve important conversations or transfer them between devices, this limitation could create complications.
“The feature creates a clear trade-off between absolute privacy and convenience,” noted mobile security analyst James Chen. “Users will need to be strategic about which conversations they apply these protections to, especially if they regularly switch devices or need to maintain records.”
The technical implementation prevents screenshots through the standard operating system functions on both Android and iOS. Additionally, when users attempt to forward content from protected chats, they’ll receive an error message explaining that the action is not permitted due to privacy settings.
For businesses that use WhatsApp’s business platform, the feature introduces new considerations for record-keeping and compliance. Many regulated industries require communications to be archived, which conflicts with the restrictions imposed by Advanced Chat Privacy. WhatsApp has indicated that business accounts will have modified implementations that balance privacy with regulatory requirements.
The feature also prevents Meta’s AI systems from accessing protected conversations, addressing growing concerns about large language models training on private communications. Users can now ensure that their most sensitive exchanges remain inaccessible not only to other users but also to the platform’s own artificial intelligence systems.
To enable Advanced Chat Privacy, users need to update to the latest version of the app, then navigate to the specific chat they want to protect. From the chat information screen, a new “Advanced Privacy” option appears, which can be toggled on or off by the conversation initiator.
Digital rights advocates have generally responded positively to the development, noting that it gives users more agency over their communications. “This is about restoring control to users in an era where everything seems designed to be shared, screenshotted, and redistributed without consent,” explained digital privacy advocate Marcus Reynolds.
The feature’s rollout comes amid increasing regulatory pressure on encrypted messaging services worldwide. Various governments have pushed for backdoor access to encrypted communications, claiming national security concerns. WhatsApp’s additional privacy enhancements signal the company’s commitment to user confidentiality despite these pressures.
For everyday users, the primary benefit lies in the ability to have truly ephemeral conversations without worrying about future distribution. This could be particularly valuable for sensitive personal discussions, confidential work communications, or situations involving shared personal information.
WhatsApp has confirmed that the feature will be available to all users worldwide by the end of May, with the staged rollout helping to identify and address any implementation issues before full deployment.
