WhatsApp is working on chats that won't appear on your other devices
New privacy feature could keep conversations off WhatsApp Web, desktop, secondary phones
Some WhatsApp conversations are more private than others.
Soon, you may be able to make sure selected chats never leave your main phone — even if your WhatsApp account is connected to a laptop, tablet or another smartphone.
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WhatsApp is developing a privacy feature called Restricted Chat, according to WABetaInfo, which discovered it in the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.26.36.5.
When enabled for a conversation, the feature would prevent that chat from being synchronised with linked devices.
That means it wouldn’t appear on WhatsApp Web, desktop apps or secondary phones connected to the same account.
One important catch: you can’t use it yet.
Restricted Chat is still under development and isn’t available even to beta testers. WhatsApp has also not announced when it will be released publicly.
Why would you want a chat only on your phone?
WhatsApp currently lets users link their account to up to four other devices.
That’s convenient if you regularly switch between your phone and computer, but it also means conversations can be available in more places.
Restricted Chat would let users choose exceptions.
You could keep most WhatsApp conversations across your devices while keeping particularly sensitive chats confined to your primary phone.
Even if your WhatsApp account were connected to another device, a restricted conversation wouldn’t be synchronised there.
The setting would be optional and applied to individual chats.
More than hiding a conversation
Restricted Chat appears to be an upgrade to WhatsApp’s existing Advanced Chat Privacy feature.
Advanced Chat Privacy already provides several protections for selected conversations.
It can prevent participants from exporting the chat, stop media from being automatically saved to the phone’s gallery and prevent messages in that conversation from being used with Meta AI.
Restricted Chat would retain those protections while adding the ability to prevent the conversation from reaching linked devices.
WhatsApp is also changing the name partly to avoid confusion, according to WABetaInfo. Calling the existing setting “Advanced Chat Privacy” could make users think ordinary WhatsApp conversations aren’t private.
WhatsApp messages remain protected by end-to-end encryption regardless of whether the additional setting is enabled.
What about WhatsApp Web?
This is where the feature could be particularly useful.
A WhatsApp Web session left open on a shared or work computer could leave conversations visible to anyone with access to that device.
WhatsApp already lets users review and disconnect linked devices.
Restricted Chat would add another layer by keeping selected conversations off those devices in the first place.
It could also limit access by unofficial clients or other tools operating through linked-device sessions.
When will Restricted Chat arrive?
For now, there’s no release date.
Finding a feature inside a WhatsApp beta doesn’t guarantee that it will appear for everyone in the same form — or at all.
WhatsApp frequently develops and tests features before deciding on a wider rollout.
Restricted Chat therefore shouldn’t be confused with the existing Chat Lock, which can already require additional device authentication for conversations.
The difference is straightforward.
Chat Lock helps stop someone using a device from casually opening a protected conversation.
Restricted Chat is being designed to stop that conversation from appearing on linked devices altogether.
For anyone who uses WhatsApp on a work computer, shared tablet, or second phone, that could make it much easier to keep conversations in one place.
