WhatsApp: Difference between revisions
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If a WhatsApp user has not used the service for four months, they are required to repeat the registration process before being able to access to their message history.<ref>[https://faq.whatsapp.com/120604060995491 Seeing “You have been logged out” | WhatsApp Help Center]</ref> In addition, changing ones' phone number means losing access to all existing messages that were not backed up in advance. | If a WhatsApp user has not used the service for four months, they are required to repeat the registration process before being able to access to their message history.<ref>[https://faq.whatsapp.com/120604060995491 Seeing “You have been logged out” | WhatsApp Help Center]</ref> In addition, changing ones' phone number means losing access to all existing messages that were not backed up in advance. | ||
WhatsApp also lets the user back up their messages to their Google account, but they are stored in a way they can only be accessed from WhatsApp, not externally. | WhatsApp also lets the user back up their messages to their Google account, but they are stored in a way they can only be accessed from WhatsApp, not externally.<ref name=TechCrunch-20220809>[https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/09/whatsapp-privacy-presence-control-screenshot-blocking/ WhatsApp is adding new privacy options, including screenshot blocking and a stealth mode]</ref> | ||
WhatsApp provides a chat exporting feature which allows to export the entire chat history as a text file, optionally including media attachments, into a ZIP file. However, there is no way to export all messages at once. It has to be done for every contact and every group individually. Additionally, starting with an April 2025 update, exporting can be remotely disabled by the other participant through the "Advanced Chat Privacy" feature., meaning the user is at the mercy of the other participant to allow exporting. | WhatsApp provides a chat exporting feature which allows to export the entire chat history as a text file, optionally including media attachments, into a ZIP file. However, there is no way to export all messages at once. It has to be done for every contact and every group individually. Additionally, starting with an April 2025 update, exporting can be remotely disabled by the other participant through the "Advanced Chat Privacy" feature., meaning the user is at the mercy of the other participant to allow exporting. | ||
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Profile picture screenshots are no privacy violation, given that they are something users voluntarily choose to make public on a visible spot of their profiles, and never were a mandatory requirement to be able to use WhatsApp. It should also be noted that WhatsApp is ironically operated by a data harvesting company (Meta, Inc.). | Profile picture screenshots are no privacy violation, given that they are something users voluntarily choose to make public on a visible spot of their profiles, and never were a mandatory requirement to be able to use WhatsApp. It should also be noted that WhatsApp is ironically operated by a data harvesting company (Meta, Inc.). | ||
WhatsApp also introduced "view-once" messages in 2021 and disabled screen captures of them in 2022. "View once" messages are forcibly deleted after being viewed.<ref name=TechCrunch-20220809 /> | |||
===Introduction of advertising (2025)=== | ===Introduction of advertising (2025)=== | ||