WhatsApp is beta testing a feature to hide a user’s ‘last seen’ status from certain contacts, according to WhatsApp beta news blog WABetaInfo.
On WhatsApp, ‘last seen’ lets other users know when someone last opened the app, and could hint at whether they checked the app without responding to a message. Currently, you can hide your ‘last seen’ from everyone, but that means you can’t see anyone else’s, either. There’s also an option to set ‘last seen’ to your contacts only, but you can’t choose specific people to be privy to it.
Here are the current ‘last seen’ privacy options available on WhatsApp:
WhatsApp’s current Last Seen privacy feature.
Credit: Screenshot: WhatsApp
The new feature will add “My Contacts Except…” to this list, making it possible to block certain people from viewing your ‘last seen.’ It’s currently in beta for both iOS and Android, and will hopefully be released to all of WhatsApp soon.