WhatsApp: Accept privacy policy or lose some functions

Facing criticism over its upcoming privacy policy, WhatsApp has said that its users will not immediately lose their accounts or face curtailed functionalities on the platform on May 15, but they will have to eventually go through limited functions if they fail to accept the new norms in the due course of time.

The Facebook-owned messaging platform with more than two billion users warned that failing to accept the new policy would result in users losing some functionalities after "persistent reminders".

Limited functionality until accepting updates

"After giving everyone time to review, we're continuing to remind those who haven't had the chance to do so to review and accept. After a period of several weeks, the reminder people receive will eventually become persistent," WhatsApp said in an FAQ update.

After persistent reminders, the users will encounter limited functionality on WhatsApp until they accept the updates.

This will not happen to all users at the same time.

"You won't be able to access your chat list, but you can still answer incoming phone and video calls. If you have notifications enabled, you can tap on them to read or respond to a message or call back a missed phone or video call," WhatsApp warned.

After a few weeks of limited functionality, you won't be able to receive incoming calls or notifications and WhatsApp will stop sending messages and calls to your phone.

Deletion

WhatsApp, however, won't delete your account if you don't accept the update.

"No one will have their accounts deleted or lose functionality of WhatsApp on May 15 because of this update," the company informed.

For the last several weeks, WhatsApp has been displaying a notification to its users providing more information about the update.

Raising concerns over the changes to WhatsApp's privacy policy, the India's Union Ministry of Electronics and IT had asked the messaging platform to withdraw the recent change, along with several industry groups raising the question over the data sharing of WhatsApp users with Facebook.

Pause to clear up misinformation

Earlier, WhatsApp postponed a data-sharing change as users concerned about privacy fled the Facebook-owned messaging service and flocked to rivals Telegram and Signal.

The smartphone app, a huge hit across the world, canceled its February 8 deadline for accepting an update to its terms concerning sharing data with Facebook, saying it would use the pause to clear up misinformation around privacy and security.

"We've heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update," WhatsApp said in a blog post then.