WhatsApp is developing a feature called Restricted Chat, which will let you limit a conversation to the account’s main phone. Once turned on, that conversation won’t sync to WhatsApp Web, tablets, secondary phones or any other devices linked to the account.
WhatsApp’s Restricted Chat stops specific conversations from syncing to linked devices and blocks access by unauthorised tools
The feature was spotted in the code of WhatsApp’s Android beta version 2.26.36.5 and is still under development, with no confirmed release date and no availability for beta testers yet.
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The problem it solves is a real one. WhatsApp lets you use the same account on several devices at once, which means a forgotten session left open on a shared computer can create access the user may not even remember exists. Restricted Chat closes off that access for the conversations you choose, even while the account stays authorised on all other devices for every other conversation.
The feature will be optional and applied chat by chat, working as an evolution of the existing Advanced chat privacy setting, which currently blocks exporting a conversation, blocks the automatic download of photos and videos, and blocks the use of messages with Meta AI.
WABetaInfo links the new feature to modified web clients and unauthorised tools that read conversations through linked devices, sometimes sending the content to artificial intelligence systems without the participants’ knowledge.
It’s worth distinguishing Restricted Chat from the existing secret-code chat lock. The lock protects access within the app on the phone itself. Restricted Chat controls where the conversation exists at all, stopping it from appearing on other authorised devices. They’re complementary protections for different situations.
For now there’s no word on whether it will arrive on Android and iPhone at the same time, how it will work with backups, or how notifications will be handled on linked devices.
