WhatsApp Rolling Out Feature That Allows You To Choose Who Can Add You In Groups Globally

Back in April, WhatsApp started rolling out a much-anticipated feature – the ability to choose who can and cannot add you to groups. Unfortunately for most of us the feature was rolled out to Indian users only.

Half a year later, WhatsApp has finally decided that this feature can start rolling out globally and this means beta users all over the world are finally getting the feature which debuted back in April.

WhatsApp has never explained why it takes so much time to roll out features but the release cycle for many features seems to take forever with night mode being another feature leaked over a year ago but still not available.

Of course, because these features are leaked and not announced officially its hard to know how much of a priority they are within WhatsApp’s development cycle.

Anyway if you’re a beta user you can check if you have the new group permissions by going to Settings in your app then tap Account > Privacy > Groups and select one of three options: “Nobody”, “My Contacts”, or “Everyone”. “Nobody” means you’ll have to approve joining every group to which you’re invited, and “My Contacts” means only users you have in your address book can add you to groups. There will also be a blacklist option allowing you to specify who cannot add you in groups – if you want to do that on a contact by contact basis. You’ll have three days to accept the invite before it expires.