WhatsApp now lets you choose which contacts can add you to groups

Hallelujah! WhatsApp is rolling out a new setting that lets you specify which people in your contact list can add you to groups on the messaging platform.

This is a refined version of a feature that rolled out earlier this year. In the previous iteration, you could choose to allow anyone to add you to groups, or all your contacts, or no one at all.

The new version lets you pick certain people who can add you to groups, that avoids people whom you don’t know well adding you to random groups.

Here’s how it works:

• Open WhatsApp on your phone, and go to Settings > Accounts > Privacy > Groups.
• Select “My contacts except for…” option.
• Add contacts whose groups you’re okay to join, to the list.

In countries like India, where WhatsApp is very popular, it’s common for people to add you to groups without permission. While an earlier version of these settings prevented strangers from adding you to rando groups, it’s quite possible you don’t know all the people in your contact list very well and don’t want to join all their groups.

A whole group of random people got added to a WhatsApp group from @almayaUAE @elGrocer do you realize this gave us all access to hundreds of numbers?! Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/uMHeXuQEcC

— Safiyya Mansoor (@SafiyyaLM) March 26, 2019

This is a nice little feature to ensure you don’t have to be part of irrelevant groups.