According to a report on November 8th announcement Meta Platforms’ popular messaging app WhatsApp has rolled out a new privacy feature that hides users’ IP addresses during voice and video calls. This change is intended to give users more control over their privacy and prevent unintentional sharing of location data.
Does your IP address display excessive ID when making calls?
An IP address conveys location information and can identify the Internet service provider used. In a standard peer-to-peer call, both parties verify each other’s IP addresses to connect the call. Once you enable the new settings, WhatsApp will route all calls through its servers instead of establishing a direct peer-to-peer connection.
“When you enable this feature, all calls are relayed through WhatsApp’s servers, and the person you are calling cannot see your IP address and subsequently infer your general geographic location. ,” the announcement reads.
This approach prevents parties in a call from seeing each other’s IP addresses.
This setting is optional and must be manually enabled by each user in the app’s privacy settings. WhatsApp emphasized that even if you disable IP hiding, your calls will be protected by end-to-end encryption.
The “Protect your IP Address” feature follows another major privacy update earlier this year. WhatsApp has introduced a feature that completely blocks calls from unknown numbers. The “Do not disturb unknown callers” setting is intended to reduce unwanted contacts and potential cyber attack vectors.
Both new privacy tools demonstrate WhatsApp’s efforts to balance enhanced user security with the convenience and quality of service people expect from a calling app. Hiding your IP address prevents you from inadvertently sharing your location, but it also increases latency as calls are routed through WhatsApp’s servers. Blocking unknown callers improves your privacy, but it may also filter out wanted calls.
WhatsApp continues to work to make its platform more private and secure.
The Facebook-owned company claims to have more than 2 billion users around the world using encrypted messaging and calling. With data privacy concerns on the rise, WhatsApp hopes features such as IP address protection will ease user concerns while maintaining the features users want.
The IP Address Protection update is currently rolling out on iOS and Android. The user is[アカウント]>[プライバシー]>[IP アドレス]You can enable the settings by navigating to . WhatsApp’s latest privacy measures aim to give users more control over their information.
Featured image credits: Photography by Anton; pexel; thank you!
