New Privacy Settings for Groups

WhatsApp groups allow families, friends, classmates and colleagues, and many other users to communicate. As people turn to groups for important conversations, our users have demanded more control over their experiences. Today, we're introducing a new privacy setting and invite system that will make it easier for you to control who can add you to groups.

To enable this setting, go to Settings in your app, then tap Account > Privacy > Groups and select "Everyone," "My Contacts," or "My Contacts Except." If you select the "My contacts" option, only users in your phone's contact list can add you to groups. If you check the "My Contacts Except" option, you can have more detailed control over which users in your contacts list can add you to groups.

In such cases, the administrator who cannot add you to the group will be asked to send you a private invitation via individual chat, and the decision to join the group will be left to you. You have three days to accept the invitation before it expires.

Thanks to these new features, users will have more control over the group messages they receive. New privacy settings will be available to some users starting today. In the coming days, everyone around the world who has the latest version of WhatsApp will be able to start using this feature.