Why do other contacts need to know when I use WhatsApp that I am connected and therefore reachable? Where has the privacy gone?

WhatsApp instant messaging has taken the issue of personal data protection to levels never seen before. You know everything about everyone in seconds. However, some solutions exist. Among the various privacy tips that you should keep in mind, there are some more specific ones that concern the possibility of being invisible on WhatsApp . Unfortunately there is no single button that allows you to make a contact invisible (although a sort of “invisibility cloak of the application would not be bad”) and it is necessary to change a few settings, considering the pros and cons.

In this guide you can find all the things you can do on WhatsApp to be invisible . How not to let other contacts know when you are connected or not, when you last accessed the application or, even less, if you decided to read a message received (the problem of the so-called double blue ticks).

To be invisible on WhatsApp you don’t need applications.

The possibility of using invisibility applications has aroused some interest on the web, probably also due to the ambiguity about its true answer. Applications to “hide” on WhatsApp? NO. Or rather yes, they exist. But they are applications for “lazy”.

All these types of apps do nothing but activate the airplane mode on your phone, in order to allow the use of WhatsApp (reading messages, seeing photos, etc.) without any of your friends being able to notice. An app is therefore useless, just go to the options of your phone and activate this mode.

The first step to being invisible on WhatsApp is to activate airplane mode when opening the application.

This way, you will be able to read all the messages without others knowing if it has been read or not. Also, you can open the application without other contacts seeing you “online” (information that appears under your name in the chat) and, if you have the last visit option active, it will not be updated.

After using WhatsApp in “stealth mode”, just turn off airplane mode and go back to normal.

New in 2017: with the ability to send messages offline , you can also use this function to write a message and send it without others seeing online!

But when airplane mode is off, there are other options for being invisible.

The airplane mode option may be a little too aggressive for some. Maybe you don’t want to use it because you have to get new messages or something. In any case, whatever the reason, there are other options to increase the privacy level of your WhatsApp account and not show your personal data.

The first is the ability to block a contact . This is definitely an extreme solution (you will neither receive nor send messages to a blocked contact) but it is ideal for those who want to permanently disappear from WhatsApp, hiding the last access time, profile photos and status updates.

The second step is to deactivate the last access time . This is one of the things that bothers WhatsApp users the most. Why do I have to tell others when I am logged in? In fact, I don’t know … So go to Settings -> Account -> Privacy and under “Last access” select “none”.

On the same page you will find the third and fourth option to be invisible on WhatsApp: disable the possibility that others see your profile picture and your status update . It is possible to decide between different degrees of invisibility: “Everyone”, “My contacts” and “None”.

Finally, there are the much discussed blue ticks (called in technical jargon “read confirmation”). We are talking about those little blue “v” that appear next to a message after it has been read (if you want to have more info on the meaning of these symbols you can take a look at this guide on WhatsApp ticks ).

To disable the read receipt go to Settings -> Account -> Privacy and disable the last item at the bottom “Read confirmation”. But remember, when you turn off the blue ticks, you won’t even be able to know if your messages are being read or not.

Now that you are invisible, watch out for privacy as well.

Now that you have discovered how to be invisible on WhatsApp, the advice is to take a look at all the WhatsApp privacy information . Knowing them is essential to prevent some “crafty” from taking a step in our private life. Nobody likes …