Image: koiguo/Getty Images.
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world. Its interest, beyond its ease of use, also lies in its solid features related to the protection of privacy. For example, WhatsApp added an option this summer to silence calls from strangers.
WhatsApp is the most popular free instant messaging service today. In addition to written messages, the application allows you to communicate in audio or video with your loved ones, send photos, create discussion groups, etc.
- Downloads: 90
- Release date : 09/11/2023
- Author : WhatsApp
- Licence : Free license
- Categories:
Communication - Operating system : Android – Online service – Windows 10/11 – iOS iPhone – macOS
From now on, the messaging application allows you to hide your IP address from your interlocutor during a call.
Quality and speed or security?
The announcement of this new feature to make calls more secure by “protecting the IP address during calls”, according to Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, came this Wednesday.
“Improve WhatsApp call security” // “Protect IP address during calls. To make it more difficult for people to find your location, calls from this device will be relayed securely through WhatsApp’s servers. Call quality will be reduced. » Image: Meta.
Currently, when you make or receive a call on WhatsApp, it is either peer-to-peer or relayed through WhatsApp’s servers, whichever provides the best call quality. Peer-to-peer connections are generally favored, as they allow for faster data transfers and better call quality. But this connection also reveals the IP address of both parties.
How to activate the new feature?
From now on, you can activate (or deactivate) the functionality Protect IP address during calls if you prefer your calls to go through WhatsApp relay servers and avoid a direct connection.
To do this, open WhatsApp, then go to Settings > Privacy > Advancedthen activate the option Protect IP address during calls. Thus, your interlocutors will not be able to see your IP address and determine your geographical location.
As a reminder, calls and messages are end-to-end encrypted in WhatsApp. Which means that WhatsApp cannot listen to calls from its users, even if they go through its relay servers instead of directly.
Source: ZDNet.com