Meta-owned WhatsApp is officially rolling out a new privacy feature in its messaging service called “Protect IP Address in Calls” that masks users’ IP addresses to other parties by relaying the calls through its servers.
The idea is to make it harder for threat actors in the call to infer a user’s location by securely relaying the connection through WhatsApp servers.
This feature is similar to Apple’s iCloud Private Relay, which adds an anonymity layer by routing users’ Safari browsing sessions through two secure internet relays.
The “Protect IP Address in Calls” feature has been under development since at least late August 2023.
WhatsApp stated that when this feature is enabled, all your calls will be relayed through WhatsApp’s servers, ensuring that other parties in the call cannot see your IP address and subsequently deduce your general geographical location.
Calls, like messages are end-to-end encrypted, so WhatsApp ensures that it cannot listen to users’ calls, even if these go through relay servers instead of a peer-to-peer connection.
This new feature provides an additional layer of privacy and security particularly geared towards the most privacy-conscious users.
The feature builds upon a previously announced privacy feature referred to as “Silence Unknown Callers,” which aims to not only protect users from unwanted contact but also minimize the risk of zero-click attacks and spyware.
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