That's how you stay away from random, unwanted WhatsApp groups

Many of us wake up to pointless messages from WhatsApp groups that we don’t even remember joining. Not to mention the dreaded family groups that you can’t find a way out of without being awkwardly added back by some uncle or cousin.

These WhatsApp groups can be fun and recreation sometimes, but they can just as easily frustrate you, especially when a stranger gets your phone number only to further add you to a whole bunch of nasty groups.

But there’s a way you can control which group you’d rather be added into and by whom. So next time just giving your phone number to someone shouldn’t serve as a headache to you.

It is pretty simple to keep random people from adding you to their groups as WhatsApp has already considered, thankfully. All you need to do is tweak a few settings under the app’s privacy section. Here’s how you can get there:

Go to WhatsApp Settings tapping vertical ellipses on top.
Go to Account, the first option, and then to Privacy.
Find Groups subhead, wherein you’ll see a list of options to pick from based on your privacy preference.

By selecting the option My contacts, you are allowed to only let the people you know add you to the groups.

Also, to further double down on your protection from anxiety in case your own contacts keep adding you into groups, you have the My contacts except… option, which helps you bar those contacts the right.