WhatsApp was tipped to work on settings to increase user privacy less than a week after the Facebook subsidiary was slammed with a record fine over data processing issues and GDPR compliance doubts.
The features, discovered by app analyst WABetaInfo, are in a development phase and would let users hide details including personal information, profile picture and their activity status from a specific contact.
Currently, users can either display this data to everyone using the app, conceal it from all of their contacts, or hide it from everybody on the app.
WABetaInfo reported if a user switches off visibility to a specific contact after the changes are introduced, this would be reciprocated in the inability to see the latter’s data.
The analyst spotted the update in the iOS version of the app, but reported it will be implemented on Android as well.
WhatsApp has faced constant fire for its privacy policies since the start of the year, when it faced a backlash over a planned update.
Last week, the Republic of Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined WhatsApp €225 million for allegedly failing to explain how it handled users and non-users’ data, and whether it circumvented European Union’s GDPR.