WhatsApp's soaring popularity has made it the favorite platform of spammers. From brands to scammers, everyone has moved on from SMS to WhatsApp to reach out to potential customers with unsolicited messages and calls. As my colleague Karandeep Singh noted in January 2023, the Meta-owned platform must prioritize fighting spam. A couple of months later, WhatsApp was spotted testing a new feature that would make ignoring spam calls easier. That option is now rolling out along with a new Privacy Checkup tool to make your WhatsApp account more secure.
A new "Silence Unknown Callers" option in WhatsApp will automatically screen and ignore spam calls from people not in your phone book. This way, you can continue using your phone without being bothered by the incoming call notification from scammers. You can always find such numbers in your call log in case you need to contact the person.
This option is enabled by default, so once rolled out for your account, WhatsApp will automatically silence all incoming calls from unknown numbers. Given how scammers are using WhatsApp to target unsuspecting users in Asian countries, this is an important change as it will help make the platform more secure.
Additionally, WhatsApp has released a new Privacy Checkup tool to help you review the various privacy options to ensure your privacy is not compromised. This includes setting up who can view your online status, enabling 2FA protection for your WhatsApp account, who can contact you, and help in keeping your personal information safe.
None of these options are new per se, but Privacy Checkup brings them all under one section. You can find the option to run a privacy checkup on your WhatsApp account from WhatsApp Settings > Privacy.
Both these additions to WhatsApp are rolling out as a server-side push and should already be live for your account.
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