Best WhatsApp Privacy Features: Today WhatsApp is not just a chatting app but has become an important part of our personal and professional life. In such a situation, taking privacy and security lightly can prove costly. In 2026, WhatsApp has introduced many such features, which give users more control over their accounts and chats. If they are used properly, data leaks and unwanted messages can be avoided to a great extent.
Chat Lock feature of WhatsApp is very useful for those users who want to keep some of their conversations separate from everyone else. After turning on this feature, the selected chats open only with the phone's passcode or biometric lock. Even if someone picks up your phone by mistake, he will not be able to access these chats. In 2026, this feature is considered to be most important from the privacy point of view.
Disappearing Messages feature automatically deletes the chat after a specified time. The user can choose the option of 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days. This feature is special for those people who do not want old chats to remain saved in the phone for a long time. This not only increases privacy, but also keeps the phone storage clean.
Now in WhatsApp, users can decide who can see their Last Seen and Online Status. If you want, you can limit it to only contacts or selected people. With this, your activity remains hidden from the eyes of unwanted people. This feature has become very important for digital privacy in 2026.
Two-Step Verification is one of the most important features. This is the most effective way to protect WhatsApp account from hacking. On turning it on, a 6 digit PIN has to be set, which is necessary while logging in to the new device. Even if someone gets access to your OTP, he will not be able to access the account without the PIN. Every user must keep this feature active.
WhatsApp's Silence Unknown Callers feature automatically mutes calls coming from unknown numbers. Along with this, the message request feature shows messages from unknown people in a separate section. This prevents spam and fraud calls. This feature has become very important amid increasing online fraud in 2026.