WhatsApp just dialed back its original plans to immediately delete accounts of users who do not agree to share their data with Facebook’s other apps before a certain date. Now, it will simply limit functionality on the account, eventually leading to it being unusable until you accept the new privacy policy.
You’ll still be able to receive notifications and incoming phone calls, but you won’t be able to access your previous conversation history. After a few weeks, WhatsApp says it will increase the limitations on your account, eventually cutting off incoming calls or notifications. You can lift the restrictions and continue using your account by agreeing to the new privacy policy, which allows the messaging application to share your data with Facebook’s other apps.
Unfortunately, the concerns about WhatsApp deleting your account are not completely gone. The company’s current inactivity policy states that it will kick in after 120 days. If the account is inactive for that long, then it will be deleted completely. As such, the only way to completely negate this issue is to agree to the changes in WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy.
According to the updated policy, agreeing to it will allow WhatsApp to share content like your phone number, account info, transaction data, your IP address, and more. The company claims it will not share messaging data—like conversation logs—with Facebook.
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