As part of its beta testing program, WhatsApp is changing some privacy options in its app to allow you to hide your online status. 

As you know, when messaging your friends, colleagues and acquaintances it's possible to see their 'Last Seen' status next to the profile photo at the top of the screen. Using these features it's possible to see if someone is purposely avoiding reading your messages, even if they have read receipts turned off. 

In the future, it may be possible to adjust this feature under the privacy settings. By navigating to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen, you'll be able to set who can see your last seen status. That includes hiding it from everyone or simply from specific contacts. 

WhatsApp has been testing this on Android for a while, but is now also being tested on iOS too via the TestFlight beta Program. 

WhatsApp is also adding more detailed privacy options for both profile photos and your about section. So if you need more privacy then there's plenty to look forward to in future. There is no official word on when these settings will roll out to the masses or indeed if they will reach that stage. This is just beta testing at this stage after all.