As a concern for many people, WhatsApp group chats can be troublesome. More so if you don’t want to be in the group in the first place. So, the question arises, how to prevent people from adding you to WhatsApp group chats. If it is random people adding you to a group chat where you don’t know participants can be really odd. Your number is all one needs to add to groups, and this can be a threat to your privacy.
WhatsApp has been updating its feature ever since the growing need to keep your private information intact. Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been taking this matter in their hands and was testing this for a while now. Until this April, when they have rolled out this feature for everyone using WhatsApp in parts of the world.
Now you can choose from Privacy Settings, who can add you in WhatsApp group chats. If you like you can decline all and keep it in a mode where no one is permitted to add you in groups without notifying. On the contrary, if you do not mind being added in a group chat randomly, you can still opt for that.
While the most feasible of the features by WhatsApp in honor of the user’s privacy this comes as a safety net. As a number of people had shown their distress about the constant spamming and unwanted messages in their feedbacks.
To respect this, consent of the user is now required to add them to a group chat on WhatsApp.
It is yet not possible to block a group on WhatsApp. So, what you can do is two things, either block a group admin and thereafter you won’t be added by them or you can go to change the settings for restricting the invitations for Group Chats.
To block an admin, follow the given instructions-
1. Open WhatsApp, go to the Group Chat you need to block admin for.
2. Click on the group info which is the Group name.
3. Now on this page, you can view who is the group admin, so click on its Number.
4. It will open a dialogue box which says “Message the number” tap on it.
5. Now a fresh page will open up and you can see on top of it “Block”.
6. Block the Admin and thus you won’t get any more requests from them.
It works for the numbers which are not added in your contact list.
This was a step to take once you have been added to the group, now what you are about to learn is how to keep people from adding you in the first place.
This requires your WhatsApp to be updated, so please complete the update first. Please follow the steps below-
1. Open WhatsApp, go to “Settings”.
2. Head to “Account”.
3. Click on “Privacy”.
4. Here you can see “Groups”, tap on it.
5. Now you can see who can add you on groups and by default, “Everyone” is selected.
6. You have to now choose between “Nobody” for restricting everyone from adding you to any groups. And “My Contacts” to restrict anyone who is not in your contact list from adding you in a group chat. And click on “Done” once you have made your choice.
7. Although in both these scenarios, you will be sent an invite in your personal chatbox. This link expires automatically in 72 hours so if you want to ignore it, you can. Also if you want to accept the invitation from anyone you can click on the “Join Group”.
8. This will prompt a message showing details of the group, like the name of the group and other participants, so it helps you in deciding whether you want to be a part of it or not.
9. You can choose now to Join or to cancel the request.
You can’t deny the importance of this great new feature, let’s find out how this is applied. You are now aware of how to control who is permitted to add you to groups in WhatsApp.
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