WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. With so many people using WhatsApp, it’s important to understand what information about you is visible to others on the platform.
Your profile photo
Your profile photo is visible to all WhatsApp users who have your phone number saved in their contacts. Your profile photo appears next to your name in any one-on-one or group chats you are part of. Users can tap on your profile photo to enlarge it and get a better view. Some key things to note about your profile photo:
- You can choose whether to have your profile photo visible to everyone, your contacts only, or nobody.
- Your profile photo is visible in all chats where the other users have your number saved in their phone’s contacts.
- If you don’t set a custom profile photo, a default WhatsApp avatar will be visible instead.
Your last seen status
The “last seen” status on WhatsApp shows the last time you were actively using the app. By default, your last seen is visible to everyone, but you can change the visibility in your privacy settings. Here’s an overview of how the last seen status works:
- When your last seen is turned on, people can see the last time you used WhatsApp.
- You can set your last seen to be visible to everyone, your contacts, or nobody.
- If you hide your last seen from specific contacts, you won’t be able to see their last seen either.
- Hiding your last seen from someone only prevents them from seeing when you were last online. It doesn’t prevent them from sending you messages.
Your About info
The About section of your WhatsApp profile lets you share some personal info with others on WhatsApp. This could include your job title, company, school, mood, or anything else you want to display. Here are some key things about the About info:
- Your About info is visible to anyone who has your phone number saved in their contacts.
- You can choose to leave the About section empty if you don’t want to share any personal details.
- Any changes made to your About info are visible to your contacts after you update your profile.
- In group chats, your About info is visible if someone taps on your name in the participant list.
Your profile name
Your profile name appears next to your number at the top of any one-on-one chats you have with other users. This is different from your display name which appears under your profile photo. Here are some key points about your profile name:
- By default, your profile name is your phone number.
- You can customize your profile name to be any name you want.
- Your customized profile name is visible to anyone you chat with one-on-one.
- Changing your profile name does not change your display name that appears under your profile photo.
Your status updates
WhatsApp has a “Status” feature where you can post text, photos, or videos that disappear after 24 hours. When you share a status, it’s visible to:
- All your contacts by default.
- Specific contacts or nobody, if you customize your status privacy settings.
- You control who can see your status updates in your status privacy settings.
- Only your contacts who have your number saved see your status updates.
Your read receipts
Read receipts let people see when you’ve read their messages in one-on-one chats. The visibility of your read receipts depends on your chat settings:
- By default, everyone can see when you’ve read their messages.
- You can disable read receipts for specific contacts or disable them completely.
- If you turn off read receipts for someone, you won’t be able to see theirs either.
- In a group chat, you can’t see read receipts for individual participants.
Your online status
In addition to your “last seen” status, WhatsApp also shows whether you’re currently online. Your online status visibility works like this:
- By default, everyone can see when you’re currently online and using WhatsApp.
- You can hide your online status from specific contacts or disable it entirely.
- If you hide your online status from someone, you won’t see their online status either.
- When online status is turned off for a contact, their profile photo will appear faded out.
Your groups
Any WhatsApp groups you’ve been added to also give out some information about you:
- Your contacts can see what groups you have in common with them.
- They can’t directly see all the groups you’re part of.
- In each group, all members can see that you’ve joined the group.
- If someone invites you to a group chat, the admin and members will know you’ve been invited.
Your phone number
Your phone number is visible to other users in certain situations:
- Users who already have your number saved in their contacts can see your full phone number in chats.
- In group chats, if someone taps your name, your number is revealed if they have it saved in their phone’s contacts.
- There is no general directory of numbers on WhatsApp, so your number is not searchable.
Your IP address and location
WhatsApp collects IP addresses and device location data, but does not share this information with other users. So your IP address and location are not visible to your contacts on WhatsApp without your permission.
Your messages
The messages you exchange with your contacts are private between you and them. But there are some exceptions:
- In any one-on-one or group chats, all participants can see all messages within that chat.
- Group admins can remove your messages from the group if needed.
- If you back up chats to a third-party app like Google Drive, those chats are no longer private.
Conclusion
To sum up, here are the key things about you that are visible to others on WhatsApp by default:
- Profile photo
- Last seen status
- About info
- Profile name in one-on-one chats
- Status updates
- Online status
- Groups in common
- Phone number (to contacts who have your number)
However, WhatsApp gives you control over the visibility of most of these items through your privacy settings. You can limit the information other users can see about you if you want more privacy.