Whatsapp status privacv – only share witi?

WhatsApp status updates allow you to share photos, videos, and texts that disappear after 24 hours. By default, your status updates go out to all your WhatsApp contacts. However, you can control who gets to view your status updates by tweaking your privacy settings.

Limiting WhatsApp status audience

WhatsApp gives you granular control over who can view your status updates. You can choose to share your status with:

• Everyone – This will make your status updates visible to all your WhatsApp contacts.
• My contacts – Only the people in your contacts will be able to view your status update.
• My contacts except – You can exclude specific contacts from seeing your status.
• Only share with – Select individual contacts you want to share your status with.

Follow these steps to configure WhatsApp status privacy on an Android phone:

1. Open WhatsApp and tap the 3-dot menu in the top right.
2. Go to Settings > Account > Privacy.
3. Tap Status.
4. Select your preferred privacy option from the list.
5. If you pick “My Contacts Except”, tap on “Choose contacts to hide status” to blacklist specific people.
6. Select “Only share with” to handpick contacts you want to share status with.

On an iPhone, you can set status privacy as follows:

1. Open WhatsApp and go to Settings.
2. Tap on Privacy > Status.
3. Choose your preferred status audience from the options.
4. If you select “My Contacts Except”, tap “Hide Status From” to blacklist contacts.
5. Pick “Share With” to individually approve contacts.

Viewing status privacy

You can see the current audience of your WhatsApp status updates by following these steps:

1. Open WhatsApp and tap on your profile picture in the top left corner.
2. Tap on “Status privacy” below your name.
3. This will show you the current status privacy setting.

On iPhone:

1. Go to WhatsApp Settings.
2. Tap on Privacy > Status.
3. This will display your currently configured status audience.

Customizing status privacy

You can set a different status audience for each update instead of having a blanket setting. For example:

• Share vacation photos with close friends and family.
• Post updates about work only visible to colleagues.
• Share weekend pictures publicly with all contacts.

To change privacy before posting a status:

1. Tap on “My status” in WhatsApp.
2. Create or select your status update.
3. Tap the audience selector (globe icon on Android, people icon on iPhone).
4. Choose who can view that particular update.

If you’ve already shared a status, follow these steps:

1. In the status tab, tap the 3 vertical dots next to your update.
2. Tap on “Change privacy”.
3. Select the audience you want for that status.

Disappearing status updates

Regardless of your privacy settings, WhatsApp status updates disappear after 24 hours. This ephemeral nature means your statuses won’t stick around forever. You don’t have to worry about old statuses cluttering up your profile.

Even if you share a status only with select people, it will vanish from their view after the 24 hour expiry period. Furthermore, status updates do not appear in chat history and leave no traces behind after they expire.

Preventing status screenshots

Although you can restrict status access to certain contacts, there’s still a risk of people taking screenshots or screen recordings of your updates. Unfortunately, there is no direct way to disable screenshots on WhatsApp status. But you can take certain precautions:

• Avoid sharing very personal or confidential information via status that you wouldn’t want recorded.
• Be selective in choosing your status audience, and only share statuses with trusted contacts.
• Use apps like Snapchat if you need screenshots blocked.
• Screenshots are difficult to prevent on any messaging platform, exercise discretion when posting status updates.

Status privacy vs last seen

Your last seen, profile photo, and about information have separate privacy controls from status updates on WhatsApp. For example:

• You can hide your last seen from everyone but keep status public.
• Your status might show to all contacts but profile photo only to friends.
• About section can be visible to all while status is limited to certain people.

It is possible to configure more revealing settings for status and be more private on last seen or profile. Or vice versa – you can be public on last seen but selective in posting status. The flexibility allows you to showcase WhatsApp’s different aspects to varying audiences.

Status vs disappearing messages

Along with status, WhatsApp also has disappearing messages – an opt-in feature that makes new messages expire after 7 days. It is different from status in the following ways:

• Chat messages vs updates – Disappearing messages affect your actual conversations. Status updates are separate from your chats.
• Duration – Statuses expire after 24 hours whereas disappearing messages last for 7 days.
• Privacy – You can limit your status audience but disappearing messages work for all new chats by default.
• Content – Status mainly contains photos, videos, and text updates. Chats have personal conversations.

So status functions like an ephemeral social media feed while disappearing messages increase privacy around regular WhatsApp conversations.

Business profiles & status

WhatsApp business accounts have additional options for status privacy. Businesses can choose if they want to:

• Share status updates only with existing customers who have chatted with the business.
• Make their status posts public to all users of WhatsApp.
• Completely disable status so that customers don’t see any business updates.

This allows companies to segment status visibility between existing leads vs new customers depending on their preference. Personal accounts do not have the option to limit status to customers only.

Restrict viewing status of others

Just as you can control who views your status, it is also possible to restrict the updates you see from others. You have two options:

1. Disable status entirely – Head to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy and turn off “Status”. You will no longer see any status updates from your contacts.
2. Mute status individually – Long press on a contact’s status update and choose “Mute [name]”. You will no longer see status from that person.

This can cut down on status clutter from groups or contacts flooding your feed. You also won’t have to manually check statuses daily.

Conclusion

• Limit WhatsApp status visibility to control your digital footprint and online privacy.
• Customize audience on a per-update basis to share relevant statuses with different groups.
• View your currently configured status privacy settings at any time.
• Screenshots can’t be prevented, so share judiciously if that’s a concern.
• You can selectively view statuses from others for a more curated feed.

While statuses aren’t end-to-end encrypted like WhatsApp chats, tweaking your status privacy and being selective in what you share can help preserve your privacy. The ability to customize status audiences gives users more control over their digital presence.