WhatsApp is rolling out a handy new upgrade and it could stop you from becoming a victim of cyber crime. The settings update, which is called Silence Unknown Callers, does exactly what it says on the tin with no calls coming through if there's no known contact on your phone.
This change should hopefully mean cold callers and scammers who may have found your number will have less chance of actually making contact with you. It's a really important upgrade especially with cyber crooks often using this calling method to try and trick people into handing over credit card details.
As WhatsApp explains in a post on its blog, "Silence Unknown Callers is designed to give you more privacy and control of your incoming calls. It helps to automatically screen out spam, scams, and calls from unknown people for increased protection."
It's worth noting that you will still be able to see everyone who has tried ringing during the day but numbers that you don't know will simply be added to the phone's call log rather than appearing on the screen.
Speaking about the update, Mark Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO, Meta: “You can now automatically silence incoming calls from unknown contacts on WhatsApp for even more privacy and control.”
If you want to set it up it's easy to enable. Simply head to the Settings menu and then tap Privacy. Once the change arrives you'll then see the option to toggle on Silence Unknown Callers.
Along with that calling option, WhatsApp says it is also introducing something called Privacy Checkup.
The chat app hopes this will help make sure everyone knows about the options of protection on WhatsApp.
It features step-by-step guides to show you important privacy settings to help you choose the right level of protection, all in one place.
To try it simply select ‘Start checkup’ in your Privacy settings. This will then navigate you through multiple privacy layers that strengthen security of your messages, calls, and personal information.
