WhatsApp is the most widely used messaging application on the planet. Its creators claim to have more than 2 billion users worldwide, a really dizzying number. This application is part of our daily life and has changed the way we relate, but it also attracts the interest of many of us.
Whether they are acquaintances who want to know if we are online, the last time we met or similar, to cyber criminals who take advantage of any breach to steal our personal information or keep our account. For all this, we explain everything you can disable to avoid espionage on WhatsApp .
We know that there are ways to spy on a WhatsApp account , although the reality is that only a small number of the dozens of methods that can be found online work. In fact, taking advantage of people who seek to spy on WhatsApp with their partner, friends or family, is quite common, offering them applications riddled with malware or similar.
Guide to maintain your privacy on WhatsApp
The privacy policy of the application begins by saying that “respect for your privacy is encoded in our DNA. Since we started WhatsApp ”. In case of residing in the European Economic Area (including the European Union), the service is provided by WhatsApp Ireland Limited . Before her we will have to solve any dispute or problem.
The information that WhatsApp collects from the user
- Your account information: mobile phone number along with basic information (including a profile name). In addition to email address, profile picture and others.
- Messages: Although WhatsApp ensures that “once your messages are delivered (including chats, photos, videos, voice messages, files and your location information), they are removed from our servers.”
- Use of payment services.
- Customer Service.
- Information on use and records.
- Device and connection information: hardware model , operating system, battery charge level, signal strength, app version, browser, and mobile network. In addition to phone number, mobile phone operator or Internet service provider, language and time zone, and IP address .
- Location information.
- cookies
Get account information
At any time we can request WhatsApp for our account information, although this does not include messages. To get it, we must perform the following steps:
- In WhatsApp, go to Settings> Account> Request info. from my account.
- Tap Request report.
- The screen will show Request sent.
We will receive the information in about three days. When it is available, we will receive a notification and we must access Settings> Account> Request info. from my account> Download report.
WhatsApp privacy settings
WhatsApp comes configured by default with some options that can harm our privacy, such as who can see the profile picture or the last time we have connected. In addition, it allows you to activate a series of functions, such as two-step verification, to prevent your account from being stolen.
The company confirms that the default settings are:
- That any WhatsApp user can see your Reading Confirmations, the time of your last. time, your info. and your profile picture.
- Let your contacts see your status updates.
Below, we review everything we can disable or change on WhatsApp. Most of the settings are in:
- WhatsApp> More options> Settings> Account> Privacy (on Android)
- WhatsApp> Settings> Account> Privacy (on iPhone).
Last connection time and Online
The latest information time and online indicate when the last time your contacts used WhatsApp , or if they are online. We can choose whether or not to show the last connection, although we cannot hide that we are Online (or writing). Of course, you must be clear that, if you do not want to share the time of your last. Once, you will not be able to see the last time. instead of your contacts. You can make all WhatsApp users see the last connection, only the contacts or no one.
Profile picture
By default, any WhatsApp user can see our profile picture. This is something that we can change from the privacy settings. The options we have are those of all WhatsApp users , My Contacts or Nobody.
Info
Another option that, by default, is shown to everyone. Here we can reveal our State, groups that we have in common with another person or the telephone number. It can be configured for all WhatsApp users , My Contacts or anyone.
Readings confirmations
The famous double blue Check that has given so much to talk about. WhatsApp marks messages in three ways:
- Gray check: The message was sent successfully.
- Double Gray Check: The message was delivered to the recipient’s device.
- Double Blue Check : The recipient has already read the message.
Many people do not want to disclose this information. Again, this is something that comes on by default. To change it, we must deactivate the Reading Confirmations in Settings> Account> Privacy . It should be made clear that this option does not disable read receipts for group chats or replay confirmation for voice messages.
State privacy
WhatsApp States are the equivalent of Instagram Stories and we can upload photos, videos or phrases that will be visible for 24 hours. Again, we can limit this to being seen only by My Contacts or exclude contacts we don’t want to see. We can also further restrict privacy and “Only share with …” . Defining us the people who will be able to see the States.
Possibility of adding us to groups
A relatively recent option is the possibility of adding us to Groups. Before, anyone could put us in the group, leaving us the only option to leave if we did not want to be. Now, we can define who can invite us to join the groups. The options are: All, My Contacts or My Contacts, except … especially if we have especially heavy friends or acquaintances.
Real-time location
The location in real time is an option that we can activate from the chat so that our contact sees where we are. This is useful for guiding a person who does not know where to go or for similar things. It is possible that we have left the option activated and some contact may know where we are. For this, in Location in real time we will control that we are not sharing it with any chat.
Blocked contacts
The Blocked option , within the Privacy Settings, allows us to define contacts that will not be able to call us or send us messages. Correctly managing this blacklist can improve our privacy.
WhatsApp Web
A weak point of WhatsApp privacy is in the use of WhatsApp Web . It is not that this alternative to see the messaging application in a browser is insecure, but it can be a privacy problem if we leave the session open on public or known computers.
To verify that we only have active sessions that we want to have (the one on our computer, etc.) or none, in Settings / Settings> WhatsApp Web / Desktop. There we have a list of devices with open sessions, if we do not know what they are or we want to close them directly, we can go one by one or click on Close all sessions.
Two-step verification or 2FA
Two-step verification is an optional feature that adds even more security to your account. When you activate two-step verification, any attempt to verify your phone number on WhatsApp must be accompanied by a six-digit PIN that you can set when activating the function.
Activating it is as simple as visiting WhatsApp> Settings / Configuration> Account> Two-step verification> Activate. In addition, they will give us the option of entering an email address , something recommended to continue accessing in case of forgetting the PIN. This code must be entered to recover the account or change mobile, a protection to prevent theft of the account.
Fingerprint or facial recognition
In the Screen Lock option we can use Touch ID or Face ID to open WhatsApp on iPhone or fingerprint on Android. To do this, in Settings> Account> Privacy we will look for the Screen lock or Fingerprint lock options and activate them.
Respond privately in a group
Although we are speaking in a group, we may need to respond privately to a specific person. To do this, we will press and hold the message that we want to respond to in the group chat and click on More or in the top three points to access the option Reply in private . With this, we will reply to the message in an individual chat with that person.
Empty chats or delete chats
Improving privacy is also emptying the content of the chats or even deleting them completely. This is possible in WhatsApp with an option that does this job automatically. In Configuration> Chats> click on Empty all chats or Delete all chats.
Prevent them from reading your messages in notifications
That we get a WhatsApp message while we teach something to another person on our mobile phone is tremendously normal. If we do not want them to know the content of the messages, we can edit the configuration. To do this, you can avoid in Settings> Notifications> Preview on iPhone or in Settings> Notifications> uncheck Notifications in high priority on Android. We also have these options on Android.
Avoid Automatic Multimedia Download
The photos we receive may compromise privacy. Luckily, we can configure the automatic download of this content in Settings> Data and storage> Automatic download, on Android, or WhatsApp> Settings> Data and storage, on iPhone.
WhatsApp scams to steal your account
Stealing a WhatsApp account is easier than you think. It is enough that they make us believe that they need the number that we have received by SMS to take over the account . Luckily, this is something we can avoid with two-step verification. Normally, we should be suspicious of messages like these:
- The message has misspellings or grammatical errors.
- You are asked to open a link.
- You are asked to share personal information (eg credit card or bank account numbers, date of birth, passwords, etc.).
- You are asked to forward the message.
- The message says that if you open a link, a new function will be activated.
- You are instructed to pay for the use of WhatsApp
Directly related to what we mentioned in the previous paragraph, WhatsApp asks us to:
“Never share the six-digit WhatsApp verification code you receive by SMS, even to a known person or to an organization you trust. WhatsApp will never ask you to share your verification code with anyone. “
Adjusting all the above options will greatly reduce the possibility of being spied on, especially it will improve our privacy .
