Your WhatsApp status updates are visible to your contacts by default. However, WhatsApp gives you control over who can view your status. You can choose to share your status with all contacts, select contacts, or no one.
What is the WhatsApp Status Feature?
The WhatsApp status feature allows you to share text, photos, videos and GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. It’s similar to the stories feature on other social media platforms. When you post a status update, it goes out to all your contacts by default. You’ll see status updates from your contacts at the top of your chat list.
Default Visibility Settings
WhatsApp’s default setting allows your status updates to be viewed by all of your contacts. So whenever you post a status, everyone in your contacts list can see it. This allows you to easily share moments and updates with all your WhatsApp connections.
Exceptions
There are two exceptions to the default visibility settings:
- If you have someone’s phone number but haven’t messaged them on WhatsApp, they can’t view your status updates.
- If someone has blocked you, they won’t be able to see your status updates.
Changing Your WhatsApp Status Privacy
While the default is for all contacts to see your status, you can change these privacy settings. WhatsApp gives you 3 options for status visibility:
- My Contacts: The default setting allows any contacts in your address book to view your status.
- My Contacts Except: This allows you to exclude specific contacts from seeing your status updates.
- Only Share With: You can create a custom list of contacts to limit status visibility to only those people.
Setting Status Privacy
Here are the steps to change who can see your WhatsApp status updates:
- Open WhatsApp and tap the 3-dot menu in the top right.
- Go to Settings > Account > Privacy.
- Tap on Status.
- Choose one of the 3 visibility options:
- My Contacts (default)
- My Contacts Except
- Only Share With
Based on the option you select, you can then choose which contacts to exclude or include.
Things to Know
- You can create multiple close friends lists if you want to segment visibility.
- Contact lists are based on your phone’s address book.
- You can change the status privacy settings at any time.
- Your current status visibility will apply to all future status updates.
How to Know Who Viewed Your WhatsApp Status
WhatsApp doesn’t have a built-in way to see exactly who has viewed your status updates. However, there are a few workarounds that can give you an idea of who has seen your status.
Check the View Receipts
If you post an image, video or GIF as your status update, WhatsApp shows read receipts indicating who has opened or viewed that status. To see them:
- Post an image, video or GIF as your status update.
- After some time, open your status update.
- Tap on the view counter below the status.
- This will show a list of profile icons for each contact who has viewed your status.
While this only works for visual status updates, it can give you a sense of who is seeing your statuses in general.
Use a Third Party App
There are third party apps like FlyStatus and Who Viewed My Status that can show you more detailed analytics on who has viewed your WhatsApp status updates. However, these apps have access to your data so be cautious about privacy and security.
Try Tricking Contacts
Some users try tricks like posting different status updates to close friends lists. If someone mentions a specific status, you’ll know they saw it. This isn’t foolproof but can give you clues on who is regularly viewing your statuses.
Prevent Specific Contacts from Viewing Your Status
If you want to block certain contacts from viewing your WhatsApp status updates, you have a few options:
- My Contacts Except. Choose this visibility option and select contacts to exclude.
- Block Contacts. You can outright block contacts from seeing your profile or messaging you.
- Delete Chats. If you delete your chat history with a contact, they won’t be able to see your status updates.
- Change Privacy. Adjust your general privacy settings like profile photo and about info.
Using the My Contacts Except visibility option is usually the easiest way to exclude specific people. Just toggle the contacts you want to block from your status updates.
Hide Your Status Entirely
If you don’t want anyone viewing your WhatsApp status, you can completely hide it. To disable status sharing:
- Go to WhatsApp Settings.
- Tap Account > Privacy > Status.
- Select My Contacts Except.
- Deselect all contacts so no one is chosen.
This will prevent all your contacts from seeing your status updates. You can always change the visibility options later on.
Conclusion
WhatsApp status updates have an default public visibility. But you have options like My Contacts Except and Only Share With to control status privacy. While WhatsApp doesn’t have built-in status view tracking, third party apps and workarounds can provide insight on who is seeing your statuses. Ultimately, you have the flexibility to share statuses with everyone, no one, or only select contacts.