WhatsApp Now Lets You Disable Link Previews for Enhanced Privacy; Here’s How

Apr. 5, 2024

WhatsApp has been ramping up its focus on user privacy for quite some time. It already offers end-to-end encryption on chats and the ability toprotect your IP addressthrough calls. Now, WhatsApp has added theoption to disable link previewsto enhance your privacy further.

As spotted by WABetaInfo, the WhatsApp Betaversion 2.24.8.11 for Androidandversion 24.7.10.76 for iOSadds a “Disable link previews” toggle. Enabling this feature will no longer create previews for links you are sharing. But you willstill see previews for links shared by otherswho have not turned on this feature.

Since the option is already available for users on the beta channel, here is a quick guide to enable it.

Once enabled, the previews won’t appear for you anymore. As you can see in the screenshots below, here is a before and after of how links will appear in your WhatsApp chats.Disable link previews ON (Left) | Disable link previews OFF (Right)

For those who don’t know, when you copy and share a link, it shows you a snippet of the website or its first page. To create this preview, your phone visits the site, exposing your IP address to the website’s server. The new feature in WhatsApp will prevent this from happening.

As mentioned previously, the feature is already live for some users on both platforms. To try it, make sure that you have thelatest version of the WhatsApp Betainstalled on your device. You can do so directly from the Play Store if you have enrolled in the Beta program or through the Testflight app if you are on iOS.

Other than privacy, it can also prove to be beneficial if you want to send a link where you don’t want the preview to be visible. You can hide the contents of a surprise link until it is opened. Scammers can also exploit preview-less links for malicious purposes by sending them to users, who have no choice but to open them to view the contents. This can lead to their data being compromised at a much more severe level.

What are your thoughts about this feature, and do you think its addition is beneficial for users? Let us know in the comments.

As a tech journalist, I dive into the ever-evolving tech landscape with a particular interest for smartphones, apps, and gaming. With a passion for sharing insights, my articles blend expertise with a friendly touch—think of me as your friendly neighborhood tech support.