Hiding private chats on WhatsApp is about to get easier; here’s how the new feature will work.

With user privacy in mind, WhatsApp is introducing a new feature called ‘Restricted Chats.’ This feature will allow users to keep their private conversations more secure than before.

Today, WhatsApp is not merely a communication tool but an integral part of people’s personal lives. Users share personal details and information related to friends, family, and work on the platform. Beyond text messaging, WhatsApp is used to exchange photos, videos, audio clips, and important files. Consequently, maintaining chat privacy has become crucial for the company. To address this, WhatsApp is rolling out the ‘Restricted Chats’ feature, enabling users to secure their private conversations more effectively.

How will the ‘Restricted Chats’ feature work?

The WhatsApp ‘Restricted Chats’ feature is designed to protect specific user chats. Once enabled, these chats become private. A key highlight of this feature is that the restricted chat will only be accessible via your primary logged-in account. If your WhatsApp is linked to a laptop or another phone, the restricted chat will not appear on those devices.

Photos and videos won’t auto-save to the gallery

If you enable the ‘Restricted Chats’ feature and receive photos or videos within that chat, they will not be automatically saved to your phone’s gallery. You will need to manually save them by clicking the save icon.

Chats cannot be exported

Typically, WhatsApp allows you to export conversations to save them externally; however, once ‘Restricted Chats’ is enabled, you will no longer be able to export those specific chats.

You won’t be able to use Meta AI

Once this feature is enabled, you will not be able to use Meta AI features while chatting, as this feature restricts the use of any third-party features.

Chats won’t open on other devices

Typically, you can chat or view messages by linking WhatsApp to a laptop or another phone; however, once ‘Restricted Chats’ is enabled, you will not be able to access that linked chat on another device.

How ​​to use the ‘Restricted Chats’ feature?

To use this, users must first open the chat of the person they wish to keep private, then go to ‘Chat Info’ and select the ‘Restricted Chats’ option. Enabling this will apply restrictions to that specific chat. Currently, this feature is designed only for personal chats; it will not apply to group chats.

This new feature will replace ‘Advanced Chat Privacy’

For your information, WhatsApp already has a feature called ‘Advanced Chat Privacy’. It allows users to restrict chat exports, the automatic saving of photos and videos to the gallery, and the use of Meta AI. The company is now introducing this same feature with upgrades as ‘Restricted Chats’, offering users enhanced privacy protection.

Currently available only to select beta users

According to a report by WABetaInfo, this WhatsApp feature is not yet available to the general public. It is being rolled out to select Android beta users and has been spotted in Android beta version 2.26.39.11. However, there is no official information yet on when it will be available to regular users.

How ​​does ‘Restricted Chats’ differ from End-to-End Encryption?

In terms of security, WhatsApp already features End-to-End Encryption, which secures user messages and calls. Simply put, this feature operates between the sender and the receiver. In other words, only the sender and the receiver can read the message.

Restricted Chats, however, goes a step further by imposing certain limitations on the chat. It prevents the chat from being opened on other linked devices. Additionally, it blocks chat exports and stops images and videos from being automatically saved to the gallery. Essentially, while end-to-end encryption keeps the message secure, Restricted Chats places constraints on how the chat is used.