[fighterpilot]

I hate that you can't log out of Whatsapp temporarily. I have to turn off my internet or my phone to take a break from it, or uninstall and reinstall the app. A dark pattern that means I'm always logged in even when I don't want to be.

[spurgu]

What do you mean by "logged in"? You're only shown as "Online" when you have the app open. When you close it it turns to "Last seen".

[fighterpilot]

I meant I sometimes wish to take a break from both notifications as well as my counterpart seeing the message got pushed into my client and thinking I'm ignoring them. If there's unattended to messages I feel a social pressure to respond quickly. I want Whatsapp to be more like an email client which is far less intrusive into mental and emotional space.

Now that I think more about it, I could do two things: (1) disable notifications, (2) make it so I disable the blue check and double check and appear offline. It'd effectively simulate logging off.

[SuchAnonMuchWow]

Personally, I enable battery saving mode: it prevent any app from using data in the background, so whatsapp won't synchronize with its servers at all unless the app is open.

The drawback is that this behavior can not be enabled on a per-app basis: either all app synchronize, or none. So I don't have new emails either unless explicitly enabled, or any other similar app. The only thing that still works and notify without requiring the app to be open are text messages and phone calls.

I consider that to be a feature, but other might not.

[spurgu]

Yeah I know very well what you mean! I do #1 (turn off notifications in the app settings) every now and then when I want to cut off a specific communication channel.

I'm unsure how you'd do #2 though? There's a permission for background data, wonder if that would be enough? Let me know if you test it!

I'm on Android btw.

[Brainmulch]

You can do this natively through whatsapp settings by turning off Read receipts, and can control who sees your "last seen" information as well

[qwaxys]

Go to settings, app, stop now

[freeflight]

To disable the blue check you just don't need to open the app, blue check for sender only triggers when you view the message in the actual app, but not if you read it in the notification/on the lock screen.

As long as the app is not open you also won't be shown as online, that only happens when actively using the app.

[seesawtron]

Why not restrict internet access to the "Whatsapp" in your app settings when you need a break? Works fine for me.