Spam comes in many forms, but addressing calls is overdue for the app
Early last year, WhatsApp introduced the Communities feature to make reaching thousands of people a breeze, further elevating it to one of the best communications apps available. However, this also means opening up our inbox and phone number to chats and calls from people we barely know. And it’s already trouble enough dealing with random crypto fanatic group invites. While the service already lets you report and block spammers, there’s currently no way to silence calls from unknown numbers. If you’re looking to get rid of incessant, unwanted calls from complete strangers, you’ll be relieved to hear that WhatsApp is working on a way to mute unknown callers.
The as-yet unannounced capability has been spotted by WABetaInfo after previously uncovering another experimental feature called Newsletters meant to simplify group communications. According to the outlet, the newsletter feature will have a disadvantage in that it will always display the creator’s phone number publicly, allowing any WhatsApp Community member to contact you even without your consent. The new mute toggle — surfaced from, but not plainly visible in a recent Android beta — will supposedly be
As seen in the screenshot below, the toggle for muting calls will be found in the Settings menu. Once enabled, the feature should automatically prevent you from being rung for calls from unknown numbers. However, the calls will still be displayed in the call list and notification center, so you won’t be completely unaware of who tried to reach you.
Spam has been WhatsApp’s bane for a long time, and it takes many forms, including ads masquerading as useful services. Earlier this year, the service was spotted testing a quick way to block spam messages. While WhatsApp has a feature for addressing spam messages and calls that have already reached you, avoiding them has proven difficult.
The mute toggle is apparently under development for the time being and seen as a viable solution to WhatsApp’s spam problems. Unfortunately, it is unknown when Meta-owned messaging platform will make it available to everyone. It will presumably need to go through some degree of public beta testing beforehand.
Given the high volume of spam and unwanted calls on WhatsApp, we’d bet many of you will be curious to give this feature a shot.
