Whatsapp will reportedly introduce a new privacy-focused feature for community members. The new functionality should already be available testing would allow users to hide their phone numbers while joining a community. The Phone Number Privacy feature is reportedly available to all Android and iOS beta testers. This allows users to join conversations and show their reactions to messages by hiding their names and phone numbers from other community members. The Meta-owned instant messaging app hasn’t officially revealed when it intends to roll out the phone number privacy feature to all users.
According to a report WhatsApp has released a feature to protect phone number privacy with the WhatsApp features tracker WABetainfo communities for all Android and iOS beta testers. It is said to be available to all Android and iOS beta testers with WhatsApp beta version 2.23.14.19 for Android and beta version iOS 23.14.0.70 for iOS respectively.
This feature allows the user’s phone number to be hidden from all members while joining a community. Currently, the community participant list is already hidden in the community announcement group. However, when a user interacts with messages through reactions, their phone number is exposed. The new phone number protection feature ensures that even when you add reactions to a message, your contact number remains hidden from other participants in the community.
The report also includes a screenshot showing the communities phone number privacy feature, giving users an idea of what it might look like when it begins widespread rollout. Access is via the “Community Announcement Group Info”. Upon enabling this feature, WhatsApp will alert users that their number will be hidden from other participants, except for the community admin and members who have already saved their contact numbers. This new privacy feature only applies to community members as the community admin phone number is always visible. Users also have the option to later share it with specific community participants based on their preference.
However, WhatsApp has not yet officially announced the launch of the phone number privacy feature. It may change before final release. If you are curious to try the new security feature, you can download the latest version of WhatsApp on Google Play, Apple Store and TestFlight app.
