WhatsApp's New Privacy Feature for Calls: A Closer Look and How It Works

In good news for WhatsApp users, the Meta-owned instant messaging program is working on a new privacy feature to protect the IP address in calls. Users will be able to experiment with additional protection when making voice and video calls with this feature, as WhatsApp will make it more difficult for others to obtain your IP address.

WhatsApp's New Privacy Feature for Calls:

"This feature is still in development on the Android app, but thanks to the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS 23.20.1.73 update, which is available on the TestFlight app, we discovered that WhatsApp has plans to introduce the same feature to a future update of the iOS app," WABetaInfo said in a statement.

According to the report, users can enable a more secure experience during voice and video chats by adding a new section to the privacy settings screen. With the "protect IP address in calls" option enabled, the Meta-owned app will make it significantly more difficult for other persons to deduce your location and IP address because calls on your device will be securely relayed through their servers.

WhatsApp's New Privacy Feature for Calls: What will happen when you Enable the new privacy feature for calls on WhatsApp?

When this option is enabled, calls will still be encrypted end-to-end, but call quality may be decreased to ensure the additional layer of protection. "It's important to note that this feature is entirely optional, and users can choose whether to enable it based on their personal preferences and security concerns," wrote the report's authors. According to the report, this privacy function is especially useful when calling unknown individuals or engaging in conversations where anonymity is important.

WhatsApp's New Privacy Feature for Calls: A new privacy feature to protect the IP address in calls

"By activating the call relay option, you will add an extra level of anonymity to your communication, and we think this is especially valuable when you're interacting with people you haven't previously established trust," the company said. However, the increased security comes at the expense of potentially slower call quality because the data must pass via WhatsApp's servers for anonymization. The new privacy feature to protect the IP address in calls is in the works and will be available in a future app version.