WhatsApp Can Now Protect IP Addresses When Users Call

WhatsApp presents the IP address guard feature (photo: dock. Meta)

JAKARTA – Apart from trying to protect users through end-to-end message encryption, WhatsApp is now presenting a new feature that can hide its users' IP addresses.

Announced on November 8 via the Engineering Meta website, WhatsApp will protect users' IP addresses when they make calls. This feature can be activated or deactivated freely by users.

WhatsApp explained that their calling service has been using less secure peer-to-peer connections. Even though data transfer is faster and call quality is very good, the party being called can find out their IP address.

IP addresses contain very important information such as the user's real-time location or the internet service the caller is using. These two features are part of privacy and should be better protected.

If this new feature is activated, WhatsApp ensures that no other party can find out the location or other general information from the IP address. The reason is, this feature will provide an additional layer of privacy and security.

This feature is available on iOS and Android. To activate it, WhatsApp users only need to open Settings in the application and tap the Privacy option. After that, select the Advanced menu until the next display shows the IP address guard option.

WhatsApp emphasizes that the calls of all its users will be end-to-end encrypted. Even though this new feature allows user calls to be forwarded to the WhatsApp server, the company still cannot hear the calls made by its users.