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WhatsApp Status Privacy: Who Can See Your Status and How to Change It

WhatsApp status privacy settings: by default all your contacts can see your status. Here are the three audience options, where to change them on Android, and what changes do not undo.

Published October 28, 2026

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WhatsApp status privacy decides who can see your status. This guide covers the default audience, the three status privacy settings (My contacts, My contacts except… and Only share with…), and what mentions and groups change. It follows WhatsApp's own help page on managing status privacy. Not affiliated with WhatsApp.

The default audience

By default, your statuses are shared with all your contacts.

WhatsApp status privacy settings on Android

To change who sees your status, tap Updates, tap the three-dot menu, then tap Status privacy. You get three choices:

  1. My contacts: all your contacts can see your status.
  2. My contacts except…: you choose contacts to exclude.
  3. Only share with…: you choose specific contacts.

Allow sharing

Turn on "Allow sharing" if you want people who can see your status to reshare and forward it.

Facebook and Instagram stories

The "Facebook Story" and "Instagram Story" toggles share the status to those stories automatically. It then uses your existing story privacy settings there.

Mentions and groups

You can also choose who sees a status by mentioning people or groups.

  • People or groups you mention can reshare it to their audience.
  • Resharing lets their audience see the content of your status. It does not reveal your name, profile info or phone number.
  • You can mention people who are not in your contacts.
  • Mentioned people can see your status even if they are not in your audience. If you mention a group, all its members can see it.
  • A status posted to a group is visible to all members of that group, whatever your status privacy settings say.

Changes are not retroactive

Changes to your privacy settings do not affect any status you have already shared. Mentioning people or groups also does not change the audience settings for future statuses.

FAQ

Who sees my status if I never change anything? All your contacts.

Can someone who is not in my audience see my status? Yes, if you mention them, or a group they belong to.

If I delete a contact who viewed my status, do they leave the viewers list? No. The contact stays on the viewers list until the status expires.

Source: WhatsApp Help Center, how to manage status privacy.

Keeping a status you have viewed

Privacy settings control who sees a status. They do not keep it. StatusPing is an Android app that saves statuses you have already viewed in WhatsApp, with an hours-left countdown on each one. It does not show who viewed a status and does not change any privacy setting. See StatusPing.