It is the most important and popular instant messaging application - with the permission of Telegram and iMessage - and despite all this, it is not the most private and secure app.
WhatsApp has a lot of problems but surely the worst is that it is owned by Facebook. Even if from the social network they ensure that our data is not used for purposes external to the app but honestly ... who believes Facebook at this point?
Fortunately, WhatsApp has various tools and settings with which we can protect our account and our privacy settings and, although they are not one hundred percent effective, they can help us make our WhatsApp experience a little safer. We leave you some of the best according to WABetainfo.
Configure the account privacy settings
With these tips, your WhatsApp account will be a little more secure.
We refer to the Last Connected, Profile Photo, and Information options. By default, WhatsApp allows anyone with our phone number to see these parameters, which honestly doesn't make any sense.
The best? Enter your settings and edit them. While it is better to choose the "My contacts" option, nothing happens to set it to “None” if what you want is that nobody (obviously) can access this data.
Configure who can add you to groups
Surely this is one of the most important privacy options of WhatsApp and it is found in Settings -> Accounts -> Privacy -> Groups.
This option allows us to configure who can add us to groups, thus preventing strangers from adding us to unwanted chats. Here we can choose between “My contacts” or · My contacts, except… “in case we don't like someone.
Enable authentication to unblock WhatsApp
Thanks to the fingerprint reader we can make WhatsApp a safer tool
We are sure that most of your WhatsApp messages may contain private information that surely you will not want anyone to read.
Fortunately, WhatsApp allows you to lock the app within your settings, the only way to log into the app via the fingerprint sensor or, in the case of an iPhone phone, Face ID.
Always keep the WhatsApp app updated
It may seem like a joke but having WhatsApp always up to date is essential. While app developers don't update the app very frequently, the truth is that when they do it is always for fix bugs, holes and security fixes.
From here the importance of having WhatsApp always updated to the latest version.
Block the most annoying users
WhatsApp has many settings that will be best configured before starting to use it
One of the problems with WhatsApp that doesn't occur with alternatives like Telegram is that allows you to start a conversation with a person only by having their phone number. For this reason, if any user of the app bothers and harasses you, the best and simplest thing is to use the blocking function.
Blocking a contact is quick and easy. You just need to enter the chat, click the menu button in the upper right corner. Then go to More> Block> Block and the contact will be blocked
Report contacts and groups
In connection with the above, it is possible that blocking a contact is not enough but more drastic measures must be taken.
If you are one of those who receives weird messages from unknown contacts, report it to us from the Contact Information section. If, on the other hand, you have been added to a group of unknown contacts without any authorization, this group can be signaled by the information of the group itself.
