WhatsApp's New 'Restricted Chat' Keeps Your Most Private Conversations Phone-Only

Sunday, October 4, 2026 — WhatsApp is giving its most privacy-conscious users a new lock for their most sensitive conversations. Restricted Chat — an upgrade to the existing Advanced Chat Privacy setting — has started rolling out to beta testers on both Android and iOS.

The headline change, reported by WABetaInfo, is blunt: when you switch Restricted Chat on for a conversation, that chat stops syncing to your linked devices entirely. No WhatsApp Web, no desktop apps, no tablets, no secondary phone. The conversation becomes phone-only.

The four restrictions

Restricted Chat toggles four controls per conversation:

1. Linked devices: the conversation does not appear or sync on WhatsApp Web, desktop, tablets, or secondary phones.
2. Meta AI: Meta's assistant cannot be invoked inside that specific chat.
3. Chat export: the option to export the conversation and its history is disabled.
4. Media auto-save: photos and videos shared in the chat no longer save themselves to the gallery.

Why the linked-device block matters

As AndroidPure notes, the most consequential restriction targets other devices rather than other people. Unofficial WhatsApp clients and third-party AI agents almost always get into conversations by registering themselves as a linked device. Close that door for one chat, and those tools lose their route in.

The tradeoff is real: a chat you lock this way becomes genuinely phone-only. And the block is not selective — everyone in the conversation is affected.

Availability

The feature is reaching some testers on WhatsApp beta for Android (2.26.39.x) and iOS (26.39.10.20), but availability is controlled server-side — installing the beta does not guarantee the switch appears. It is off by default and enabled per conversation from the chat info screen, which shows a system message when restrictions go active. End-to-end encryption is unaffected either way.

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