New Protection for Private Chats is Being Tested on WhatsApp! What is Restricted Chat?

Platform: Android, Apple / iPhone
Application: WhatsApp

When you want to protect the content of a chat in WhatsApp, actions such as exporting messages, saving media, or opening the chat on another device become important for privacy.

WhatsApp aims to offer more granular control in this regard Restricted Chat.

The purpose of the feature is to make it difficult to transfer private conversations to other places or view them from different devices by restricting some actions in certain chats.

According to news in early October 2026, Restricted Chat is available to a limited number of users in beta versions of Android and iOS applications. Therefore, it would not be correct to say that the feature is available for all users.

The tested protection approach highlights the following limitations:

• Limit chat history export.

• Preventing media from being automatically saved to other locations.

• Restricting the use of certain AI features in relevant chats.

• Limiting access from connected devices.

This can be particularly interesting for sensitive business negotiations, private conversations within the family, or private information shared in a particular group.

For example, you have a private project chat with several people participating. You don't want messages to be bulk transferred to another app or viewed from connected devices. This is one of the use cases Restricted Chat targets.

However, the feature should not be considered as a security system that definitively prevents any copying of messages or taking screenshots. Methods such as taking a photo of the phone with another device may still be possible.

Also, there is no guarantee that a feature included in the beta version will be included in the same way in the final version.

How can you check?

You can review the information section and privacy options of the relevant chat in your WhatsApp. If Restricted Chat does not appear, the feature may not be enabled for your account yet; Do not install unreliable beta APK files just to see the feature.