November 8, 2026
The “WhatsApp” application is developing new privacy settings that give users complete control over who is allowed to view their phone numbers, in a step aimed at enhancing the protection of personal data and reducing the need to share numbers during communication.
According to a report published by the “WABetaInfo” website, the new feature was spotted in the beta version 2.26.45.1 of the “WhatsApp” application on the Android system, and it is still under development and is not yet available to users or participants in the tests. This step comes as a continuation of efforts to develop the “User Names” feature, which allows understanding and communication via a custom name instead of directly revealing the phone number.
Regarding protection options, the application intends to add a new section within privacy settings that includes four main options to control the appearance of the number; It is allowing everyone to see the number, or restricting it to saved contacts only, or showing the number to contacts while excluding specific people, up to the option to hide the number from everyone.
It is likely that the option to hide the number from everyone will be the default setting for accounts that rely on user names, which prevents those communicating by name from knowing the number unless they have previously saved it, as the feature does not mean that the number will disappear completely for those who already have it in their books.
In addition, the update will be accompanied by a warning message that will appear to the user when modifying the number appearance settings, alerting him that some of the previous exceptions may be affected by the modification, which is a preventive measure to avoid unintended disclosure of personal data, especially for users of the application for professional and commercial purposes.
So far, “WhatsApp” has not set an official date for launching the feature, and it is expected to be released in a later update after completing its testing, while users are currently advised to enhance their protection by reviewing current privacy settings such as “profile picture,” “status,” and “last seen,” in addition to activating two-step verification and avoiding sharing access codes.
