WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, allowing us to easily connect with friends, family, coworkers, and more. However, there may be times when you don’t necessarily want all of your contacts to know when you’re online or have read their messages.
The good news is WhatsApp provides a few different options that allow you to control your privacy settings and hide your online presence from select people. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to hide your WhatsApp activity from specific contacts.
Hide “Last Seen” Status
The “Last Seen” status shows the last time you were actively using WhatsApp. You can hide this from everyone, specific contacts, or no one. Here’s how to customize who can see your “Last Seen”:
- Open WhatsApp and tap the three-dot menu in the top right corner.
- Go to Settings > Account > Privacy.
- Tap “Last Seen”.
- You have three options:
- Everyone – Any of your contacts can see your “Last Seen”.
- My Contacts – Only the contacts in your address book can see it.
- Nobody – No one can view your “Last Seen”.
- Select the option you want.
If you don’t want certain people seeing when you were last on WhatsApp, choose “My Contacts”. This will hide it from any numbers that are not already saved in your phone’s address book.
Turn Off Read Receipts
Read receipts allow your contacts to see when you’ve read their messages. Like “Last Seen”, you can control who gets this info.
- Go to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy.
- Tap “Read Receipts”.
- You again have three options:
- Everyone – Anyone you message can see when you’ve read their texts.
- My Contacts – Only saved contacts will get read receipts.
- Nobody – Turns off read receipts completely.
- Choose your preference.
Disabling read receipts for “Everyone” or “My Contacts” will prevent specific people from knowing when you’ve read their messages.
Disable Typing Indicators
The typing indicator shows when you are actively typing a message to someone. Follow these steps to turn this off:
- Go to Settings > Account > Privacy.
- Tap “Typing Indicators”.
- Toggle it off.
This will disable typing indicators for all of your contacts. Unlike “Last Seen” and read receipts, you cannot select specific people to hide this from.
Block Contacts
Blocking contacts on WhatsApp will remove you from their contact list and prevent them from viewing your profile photo, “Last Seen”, and any status updates. You also won’t receive any messages or calls from blocked numbers.
There are two ways to block a contact:
- In a chat window, tap the contact’s name at the top and select Block Contact.
- Or go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Blocked > Add New. Enter the number you want to block.
If you block someone, you can still unblock them at any time to restore communication.
Hide Your Status Updates
Posting a status allows your WhatsApp contacts to view text, photos, or videos that will disappear after 24 hours. Like other privacy settings, you can control who gets access to your status.
- Go to Settings > Account > Privacy
- Tap “Status”.
- Select one of the following:
- My Contacts – Only your address book contacts can see your status.
- My Contacts Except… – Choose specific contacts to exclude.
- Only Share With… – Restrict it to certain contacts.
Adjusting these settings prevents unwanted contacts from viewing your status posts.
Leave Groups Anonymously
When you leave a WhatsApp group, everyone in that group is notified who left. But you can leave without notifying everyone through these steps:
- Go to the group and tap the group name to open settings.
- Tap Group info > Exit group.
- Tap Exit group quietly.
This allows you to exit a group discreetly without blasting a notification to all participants. Only the group admins will be notified you left.
Hide Your Number from Non-Contacts
By default, even people who don’t have your number saved can look up your WhatsApp profile through your phone number. To prevent strangers from finding you, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings > Account > Privacy.
- Disable “Everyone” under Who can look up my number.
This will make your number invisible to anyone not already in your contacts.
Limit Profile Photo Visibility
You can configure your profile photo settings so only certain people can see your picture and “about” information. Here’s how:
- Go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Profile photo.
- Select one of these options:
- Everyone – Public to all WhatsApp users.
- My Contacts – Only people in your address book.
- Nobody – Profile hidden from everyone.
Limiting profile photo visibility is an easy way to further lock down your privacy.
Hide Your Live Location
The Live Location feature lets you share your real-time location with contacts. For more privacy, you can set limits on who can view your location.
While sharing location:
- Tap More options > Hide from…
- Select contacts you want to block from viewing.
You can change this at any time while sharing live location in a chat.
Adjust Default Message Visibility
You can set custom defaults for who can see your messages:
- Go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Default message visibility.
- Pick an option:
- Everyone – Messages visible to all contacts.
- My Contacts – Only saved contacts see messages.
- My Contacts Except – Choose exclusions.
- Only Share With – Restrict messages to certain contacts.
This provides more granular control over who can communicate with you.
Review All Contacts
It’s a good idea to periodically review your full contacts list and remove any numbers you don’t want communicating with you.
- Open your phone’s Contacts app.
- Go through each entry and delete any unnecessary contacts.
- You can also remove contacts directly within WhatsApp by going to Settings > Contacts > [Contact Name] > Remove Contact.
Cleaning up your contacts helps minimize who can interact with you on WhatsApp.
Use Two Accounts
If you want to fully separate work and personal communication, use two different WhatsApp accounts on the same phone.
- First, install WhatsApp twice on your phone using two different phone numbers.
- When prompted, select Use two accounts and follow the setup instructions.
- Each account will have independent privacy settings and contacts.
While a bit more cumbersome, two accounts effectively isolate your work and personal life on WhatsApp.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I hide my WhatsApp from someone who has my phone number saved?
Even if someone has your phone number saved in their contacts, you can still hide certain information like your “Last Seen”, profile photo, status updates, etc. by adjusting your privacy settings. The one thing they may still be able to see is when you are online, unless you disable the “Last Seen” status for everyone.
Can someone who I block still see my profile picture and status?
No, blocking someone removes you entirely from their WhatsApp experience. They will no longer be able to see your profile photo, status updates or any other activity.
How do I know if someone has blocked me on WhatsApp?
If you can no longer see someone’s profile picture or status in chat, it likely means you’ve been blocked. You also won’t be able to add them back as a contact. Any messages sent to a number you’re blocked from will not go through.
Can I get blocked on WhatsApp without knowing?
Yes, when you get blocked by someone they essentially disappear from your WhatsApp interface. The only indication might be that you can no longer see their profile picture or status. But there is no message or indicator to inform you that you’ve been blocked.
If I block someone, can I still receive their calls?
No, blocking someone on WhatsApp blocks all communication, including calls and messages, from that person’s phone number.
Alternative Messaging Apps
Beyond adjusting settings, there are alternative messaging apps to WhatsApp that provide enhanced privacy and control over your communications.
Signal
Signal is an open-source, encrypted messaging app that allows you to make voice and video calls, send text messages, files, voice notes and more. All communications are secured with end-to-end encryption. You can also set messages to disappear after a certain amount of time.
Telegram
Telegram is another popular encrypted chat app that lets you create groups, channels, bots and more. It provides robust privacy tools like auto-delete timers and the ability to hide your phone number. Chats can also be restricted to contacts only for more control.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger allows you to communicate across Facebook’s various apps and features. You can limit message visibility in settings to exert more control over your privacy.
iMessage
For Apple device users, iMessage provides encrypted messaging between iOS users. You can also set limits on who sees read receipts and typing indicators.
Conclusion
WhatsApp makes it easy to selectively hide your online presence and activity from specific contacts. By adjusting visibility settings for “Last Seen”, read receipts, profile photos, status updates and more, you can limit what certain people see when you want more privacy.
Blocking contacts, leaving groups quietly, and using two accounts can provide additional protection. And you can always switch to alternative apps like Signal or Telegram for communication channels with tighter security.
With the right settings, you can enjoy WhatsApp’s convenience while only sharing what you want with who you want.