THIS IS A TOTAL GAME CHANGER SURELY

[isitanoaktree]

Whatsapp has now provided an update whereby users can hide their 'online' status. This is honestly brilliant and a long time coming.

I have just breathed an audible sigh of relief knowing that being seen online won't cause issues for me in the future now.

What does this mean though for cheating spouses and partners who were caught out, in part, because they were seen online at odd hours or only ever online when they were locked in the bathroom? Interesting one...

Plays right into the hands of philanderers doesn't it...

Urgh. Did not mean to use capital letters for the title. oops

This isn't new.

Also did not mean to enable voting. Essentially, I am making a right pigs ear of this post!

Oh I didn’t know this!

It is new. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-62464243

You can hide your status already

It's been around for years!

This has been a thing for ages

No you can't.

No it hasn't! That is / was 'last seen' which is a different thing entirely.

That is incorrect unfortunately.

Honestly does nobody on here know how to use WhatsApp? I honestly despair. Its one of the most straightforward apps to navigate, and I say this as someone that isn't hugely tech savvy myself.

How is this different from the last seen?

This isn't new, and on many phones you can avoid this by reading the message in notification rather than opening the app.

Or just not stalking your contacts to see how long everyone takes to reply.😂 People have their own lives, and mobile phones are for each person's own convenience, not as a summons from you to someone else. DH gets ratty when his mum doesn't answer or has gone into the garden without her phone. Jeez calm down, some people want a bit of quiet time without feeling at someone else's beck and call.
(this isn't directed to you personally OP, just in general. Obviously I'm secretly annoyed with my DH for being like this!)

Oh I've been waiting for this update. No "online" betraying me turning off the 'last seen'. Perfect for ignoring work group chat.

Whenever I've hidden my last seen, no can tell when I'm online .

But you cant tell when others are online.

At the moment (or before this update) you’d still see if a person was online when you were even if no last seen. I’ve not read about this new update but assume it means that is no longer the case?

'Last seen' is a time stamp, and shows when you were last seen online. So for example 'last seen 10.16am'.

'Online' status shows when the person is online there and then, under their name, and changes to 'typing' when they are typing a message.

So for instance, if I am writing a message to you @Rowthe then anyone else who I also whatsapp can see that I am online and essentially wonder who I am writing to, why I have time to write to others and not them if I have not replied to their message, or whether I am cheating on you as my status is constantly online in the small hours or when I am supposed to be otherwise busy, like at work.

It’s different because when you’re online everyone can see you’re online, it is new, previously you could only turn off last seen.

Yes that''s exactly right! Nobody had the ability to hide their online status prior to this update.

Precisely!

Last seen is literally when you were last online

’online’ means you are using WhatsApp right now. So if you don’t want to reply to a message straight away, the person who sent it can be reasonably sure you’ve seen it if they can see you’re online.

That is not correct, because there was no way to hide your online status prior to this update.

Until now you could hide last seen. Unfortunately for my ex, even with this function, if we were online at same time it still showed he was online.

Yes indeed! I feel relieved in all honesty! No more WhatsApp induced anxiety!