It’s understandable that you want to know how to stop being added to WhatsApp groups.
I mean, one minute you’re on WhatsApp talking to friends and the next thing, you’re receiving messages from an unknown source.
I can already hear you screaming “don’t add me in any group!”
Well, if you’re new here, my name is Shaibu and you’re on Shu’s Techs. The website where I do the research and you get the results.
Today, I will show you how you can prevent being added to WhatsApp groups if you always find yourself getting added without your permission.
This is an Android based tutorial, but I believe iOS users should be able to apply the same method to get the same result.
With that said, let’s get to it.
HERE IS HOW TO STOP BEING ADDED TO WHATSAPP GROUPS
If you don’t want to read a bunch of texts, here is a video that shows you how to do it… else, read on.
Okay, so first thing you need to do is launch your WhatsApp app.
Next thing to do is to tap the menu icon at the top-right (it’s the icon with 3 vertical dots).
A list of items will show up, at the bottom of the list, you’ll find “Settings”, tap it and it should take you to a new screen.
Just under your profile photo, you’ll see “Account”, tap it and then tap “Privacy”.
After tapping Privacy, scroll down till you find “Groups”. When you do, tap it. This is where the magic happens.
Now, you’ll get three options. “Everyone”, “My contacts” and “My contacts except…”
On some versions, “Nobody” is the third option. If you see that, just select it and you should be okay from there.
For those of you who have “My contacts except…”, don’t worry, I got you covered.
I’ll also explain what the other two mean. But for now, just tap “My contacts except…”
A list of all the contacts on your phone will be displayed.
Select all of them by tapping the icon at the top-right. You should notice that all your contacts have a “red symbol” on the right.
Finally, hit the green button located at the bottom… and that’s all.
Congrats, you can be rest assured that you won’t get added to WhatsApp groups anymore.
In case you’re wondering, if someone wants to add you to a group, you will receive a private message from them first with a link to the group. This is often referred to as a “WhatsApp group add request”.
Now with this permission to add you to a group, you can click the link to review it then add yourself, if you’re interested, or just ignore the link.
Thank you for taking the time to read this short article, you can stop here if you want.
As promised, I’ll explain what all three options mean.
WHATSAPP GROUP PRIVACY: EVERYONE
When you leave it on “Everyone”, it means anyone can automatically add you to a group. Even if you don’t have their number saved on your phone.
I would not recommend selecting this because you may find yourself in some spammy groups.
WHATSAPP GROUP PRIVACY: MY CONTACTS
Activating this just means that only contacts you’ve saved on your phone will be able to automatically add you to a WhatsApp group.
Now if you don’t have a lot of contacts on your phone, this can be a good option to choose. But if you’ve got a lot of contacts, you should consider going for the third option.
WHATSAPP GROUP PRIVACY: MY CONTACTS EXCEPT…
I’m sure by now you know what this means, but I’ll still explain. The second option gives just your contacts the privilege to add you to groups, but like I said, if you have many, it can be bad.
So, with this option, you get to manually choose the people you want to be able to add you to groups without your permission.
Nobody else will be able to add you to a WhatsApp group beside those you selected from the list.
Only select people you know won’t add you to groups that can be sensitive or spammy. You have all the power here.
Ironically though, by not selecting the contact, it means they have the permission to add you to a group without you needing to review the group first.
Those you select (with the red symbol by their name) will not be able to add you to a group.
CONCLUSION
Being added to some WhatsApp groups without your consent can sometimes be annoying. If you follow the method above, you will be able to stop that from happening.
If this article helped you, share it with those who need it.
All this talking about WhatsApp, if you guys are interested in learning how to save WhatsApp Statuses, be it images or videos, check out my detailed post that shows you how to.
