Android And iPhone Users Warned Over New WhatsApp Feature Affecting Billions

As part of the new upgrade, Whatsapp is now letting billions of users all over the world hide their online status, so watch out, sneaky family members, colleagues, and friends might be ignoring your texts.

The game-changing feature called “stealth mode” by fans will let you use the app in secret. Right now it’s impossible to hide the fact that you’re online.

All you can do is conceal your “Last Seen” status.

WhatsApp recently began testing the option to completely hide your online status in the beta version of the app.

And a new report from the app sleuths at WABetaInfo reveals that the testing has rolled out to even more people.

That means you’ve got more of a chance than ever before of trying the new trick. The new feature will be available in Settings > Privacy > Last Seen & Online. But sadly it’s not guaranteed that you’ll be able to use it, even on the beta.

“In case the feature is still not available for your WhatsApp account, you’re out of luck and you have to wait for another update, unfortunately,” WABetaInfo explained.

 

WhatsApp has been criticized in the past for not allowing users to hide their online statuses on the app.

“There may be different reasons why people want to use WhatsApp in stealth mode,” said WABetaInfo.

“Some users want to use WhatsApp without being disturbed by other people.

“Or they feel stalked by someone.”

Sadly there’s no guaranteed release date on this new feature. It’s not even in proper beta testing yet, so it could take weeks or even months to roll out to the general public.

If you want to try it out, follow our guide below to join the WhatsApp beta.

How to get WhatsApp beta

To download WhatsApp beta for your smartphone you need to go to Google Play on your Android and search for WhatsApp.

Scroll down the page until you see “Become a Beta Tester”.

Tap the “I’m In” button and then click “Join” to confirm.

Now all you have to do is wait for the update to the beta version of the app.

Joining the WhatsApp beta on iOS for iPhone is more difficult, and has limited capacity.

Follow Apple’s guide here.

Bonus WhatsApp trick

If that’s not enough for you, here’s a clever WhatsApp trick that you might enjoy. Simply open WhatsApp on your iPhone, enter a chat and type out a message.

Then highlight a word (or sentence, or an entire message) and hold your finger down. A pop-up menu will appear: now tap the BIU symbol.

This lets you change the style of your font, potentially confusing your friends. Of course, that’s not the only way to achieve this effect.

To make text bold, all you need to do is place an asterisk on either side of the word or phrase you’re trying to embolden, like so: *text goes here*

Similarly, it’s also possible to make WhatsApp messages italics, which is great for emphasis: italics. It works in exactly the same way as the bold trick but uses different symbols.

You need to place an underscore on either side of the word or phrase you’re trying to edit, like this: _text goes here_

The strikethrough features draw a line all the way through your text: strikethrough. It’s usually used to signify that something is wrong, or should be ignored.

To get a strikethrough, place a tilde (that’s that squiggly line symbol) on either side of your message, like this: ~text goes here~