Following WhatsApp’s new privacy policy guidelines, people sent secure and private messages to specific applications such as Telegram and Signal. However, many users are still using WhatsApp because most of their contacts are in it.
Many times, WhatsApp users often form groups and connect other people with them without their consent. It must have happened to you, and you may wonder if you can stop it. Of course, you can do this by enabling some options, and we will show you how to do it.
The maximum number of users in a WhatsApp group is 256, but an active group may blow up notifications on the phone. When discussing various things under the sun, you may wake up to the bullet screen tag message.
Fortunately, WhatsApp includes a mechanism that prevents people from adding you to random groups that are not needed. This way, you can make a choice you want to be a member of the group and prevent spam from entering or not entering the screen of the phone.
HOW TO STOP BEING ADDED TO WHATSAPP GROUP ON ANDROID
Owing to the majority of Android phone users out there, we shall start with that platform first.
Step 1: Launch WhatsApp app on your phone and select Settings after tapping the three-dot menu icon.
Step 2: Tap on Account and then select the Privacy option from the list.
Step 3: Under Groups, you will view three options.
- Everyone means anyone can add you to a WhatsApp group.
- My Contacts option means only the people whose number you have saved in your Contacts can add you to a WhatsApp group.
- My Contacts Except option acts more like a blacklist for My contacts where everyone in your contacts lists except the ones you’ve specifically excluded will be able to add you to a WhatsApp group.
Tap the Done button at the bottom of the screen after making changes to save settings. You can come back later and change settings or add/remove contacts from the list if you wish to do so.
HOW TO STOP BEING ADDED TO WHATSAPP GROUP ON IOS
The process remains more or less the same for WhatsApp’s iOS version. The interface looks and works differently due to Apple’s design language.
Step 1: Tap on the Settings button in the bottom bar menu and select Account.
Step 2: Select Privacy and then you will view the Groups option. Select that.
Step 3: Just like in Android, there are three options here. As noted above.
- Everyone means anyone can add you to their WhatsApp group. That’s also the default option selected.
- My Contacts mean those who are in your contacts list or contacts app can add you to their WhatsApp group.
- My Contacts Except option is where you can choose individuals from your contact list who are not allowed to add you to any WhatsApp group.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOMEONE STILL TRIES TO ADD YOU TO WHATSAPP GROUP
Suppose you don’t want someone to add you to a WhatsApp group without your permission. Your contact should not contact that person, and you should establish contact without your permission.
When others add your name to the list, they will see a pop-up message informing them that you cannot be added to the group. This means that no matter how many they try, they will need your permission to make you a member of the group.
In other words, they can still send an invitation link to join the forum. Whether to join it or not is entirely up to you. With the required options, at least you can avoid all spam and unsolicited mail.
This is a subtle way to deliver the message. Again, don’t abuse the private message feature and bombard them with ‘join my group’ links. That’s not cool either.
GROUPS ARE FUN
It is annoying to wake up the messages every morning by filling random images in your WhatsApp application. If you do not enable the necessary options, people can add you to all types of groups, such as society, local clubs, stadiums, etc. More commonly, group selection is often abused by spam, advertisements, and other unsolicited messages.
The ability to prevent people from adding them to groups without their permission is such a blessing. Although these are steps in the right direction, there is still a long way to go. The extensive use of geographic information by users on Facebook and the platform to regulate and restrict such situations will only make things harder.
