This archive report was first published on 22 October 2019.
After over a year and a half of anticipation, WhatsApp has finally rolled out its group privacy controls to all users. The feature, which was first announced in April last year, allows users to restrict who can add them to groups.
Initially, the feature was only available to users in India, but it is now available on the latest versions of WhatsApp beta. The feature can be found under Settings > Account > Privacy > Groups.
By default, the 'Everyone' option is enabled, but users can choose to restrict who can add them to groups. The options include 'My Contacts Except...' and 'Nobody'. While the 'My Contacts Except...' option can be used to achieve the same results as the 'Nobody' option, it is a tedious process that requires users to update the exceptions list every time.
WhatsApp had indicated that the feature would be available to all users on the stable release channel of the app over the next few weeks. The feature is currently available on version 2.19.298 of WhatsApp beta on Android.
Users who are not enrolled in the beta program can download version 2.19.300 from APK Mirror and get the feature. However, there is no guarantee that this will work since it is a server-side update.
WhatsApp has been testing several other features, including the ability to use the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices and disappearing messages. Fingers crossed that these features will be rolled out to the wider public soon.
