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Comment by arepublicadoceu | Hacker News Reader

What I want from Whatsapp is:

- Option to block/filter/hide people within a group. This way I can mute inconsiderate jerks from groups I can’t leave (work/family);

- alternatively, option to mute and hide groups forever, no I don’t want a red dot to signal there’s new message. I want it completely hidden until I casually remember to check it;

- hide my online status

These three action points would alleviate all my pain points with their platform.

Unfortunately, I’m not confident they will give me this kind of control as this would be anathema to Meta core values: controlling their (product|user) and increasing engagement on their app to the expense of the user mental health.

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I definitely feel your pain. Bite the bullet and leave those groups. I did, it was difficult at first but I'm better for it. The momentary discomfort will soon be replaced by long lasting peace of mind.

One time I was switching between phones or restoring from Titanium Backup, and WhatsApp removed me from all my groups (maybe when I logged on from a new phone, I got a new key, and when I restored using TB, the new key didn't match my key the members knew)...

If someone from one of the groups confront you/GP about leaving, you can always say "I was restoring from backup and it looked like something went wrong!"

> - alternatively, option to mute and hide groups forever, no I don’t want a red dot to signal there’s new message. I want it completely hidden until I casually remember to check it;

You can do this by archiving the groups, they will only appear if you go in the archived chats tab and won't notify you.

> - hide my online status

You can already do this in the Privacy options.

> - Option to block/filter/hide people within a group. This way I can mute inconsiderate jerks from groups I can’t leave (work/family);

This is honestly stupid, there's no way you will be able to follow a conversation where some people's messages aren't displayed. Leave your family groups and refuse to use WhatsApp for work.

>You can already do this in the Privacy options.

Whoa, that’s new! Thank the Lord.

Hahaha now my entire extended family doesn't know I am online and available. Thank the lord indeed. I am almost religious right now.

> You can do this by archiving the groups, they will only appear if you go in the archived chats tab and won't notify you.

No you can't, read again, I *don't* want a red dot signalyzing there's new messages on my archive.

> You can already do this in the Privacy options.

Unless you're in some A-B test I definetely don't have this option on my Privacy setting. Just Triple checked.

> This is honestly stupid, there's no way you will be able to follow a conversation where some people's messages aren't displayed.

The hot take is: I don't need to follow any conversation that includes those individuals. But I need to follow notices, and important information regarding my job.

How about hide behind a notice: "You mutted this person, click here if you want to read the message anyway.". There, some middle ground.

> Leave your family groups and refuse to use WhatsApp for work.

I'm not even sure how to respond to this, if you're privilleged enough to say this, good for you. I'm definetely not.

> No you can't, read again, I don't want a red dot signalyzing there's new messages on my archive.

I had never used the feature a lot so I didn't know what was the behavior.

I just tested, there's no red dot, it just shows you the number of unread messages, which is really not attention catching (I actually had 2 unread messages there for months and had never noticed before).

> Unless you're in some A-B test I definetely don't have this option on my Privacy setting. Just Triple checked.

https://i.imgur.com/GRLMjGh.png

Just took this screenshot. It's also not new, my girlfriend has been using it for years.

> I'm not even sure how to respond to this, if you're privilleged enough to say this, good for you. I'm definetely not.

I can't see any demographic that can't afford to leave a family discussion on WhatsApp, especially one with people that they don't want to talk to.

As for work conversations, unless you work a job where you're not on a computer all day, which is probably less than 1% of the commenters of HN, there is a more work-appropriate tool for communication that your company is already using.

>> Unless you're in some A-B test I definetely don't have this option on my Privacy setting. Just Triple checked.

> https://i.imgur.com/GRLMjGh.png

> Just took this screenshot. It's also not new, my girlfriend has been using it for years.

Can confirm this privacy option existed since I installed WhatsApp on my brand new LG G2 back in 2014. I turned it on then right away and never turned it off in all the years and phones I've had since.

The price for people not seeing your "last seen" status, is that you don't see other's people's "last seen" status. Which is fine by me.

Only the first option has always been around. Being able to completely hide your online status is brand new.

>Being able to completely hide your online status is brand new.

Unless new configuration options may appear without an update, it is not "brand new". I just checked and I have that option, and I updated WhatsApp in August 14, when I was forced to do so. My version is 2.22.16.75.

That option is kind of dormant in app I think and gets enabled from backend. I updated two phones at same time around a month ago and one of them did not have that option until 2-3days back.

It is new. Was just released in September.

https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/whatsapp-bring...

> Unless new configuration options may appear without an update

That is indeed how WhatsApp seem to have been rolling out features recently.

> Just took this screenshot. It's also not new, my girlfriend has been using it for years.

Never seen this before - but I have it as well! It must have been added in the last 6 months or so for me... Thanks for pointing it out :-)

The second option definitely only became available yesterday: https://twitter.com/whatsapp/status/1587941579050070016

Do not disturb times (say 7pm to 6am)

Delete all media in a chat/group

Write-protect groups-- to avoid accidentally sending stuff to contacts or groups where you don't usually send anything (involuntary groups for work or family)

Alternatively- permanently disable mic and camera access to groups.

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