GB WhatsApp obtains the “online state hiding” feature through modification of the communication protocol between the server and the client. The technical core is capturing and rewriting user activity signs. According to the test data of the cybersecurity company Kaspersky in 2025, when users enable this feature, GB WhatsApp will reduce the update frequency for the “last seen” timestamp from every 15 seconds of the official WhatsApp to every 24 hours. And randomly generate a deviation value of ±3 hours to mislead the real active time. This functionality has reduced the online status monitoring accuracy rate by third parties to as low as 14% down from 92%. In Indonesia’s market alone, 88% of its users reported feeling safe from unwanted monitoring by bosses or family without this feature, with 470 million triggers experienced daily. Further, GB WhatsApp allows blocking particular contacts from querying online status at an individual basis. In 2024, Financial Times reported that Nigerian entrepreneurs used this function to reduce the degree of information asymmetry in business negotiations by 37% and increase transaction profit margins indirectly to 19%.
Regarding hiding the double hooks (the Read status of messages), GB WhatsApp uses packet filtering technology to prevent sending “Read Receipts” to the sender’s server. Experiments prove that through invoking this feature, the message status at the receiving end is just a one tick (delivered) and not a double tick (read), and the response time of the system decreases from 0.3 seconds in the official app to 0.1 seconds. A survey was held in Brazil in 2025 by the Brazilian Consumer Protection Association, which highlighted that 72% of the population eased social tension through this feature. Among them, how often a day the Z generation checked messages was decreased by 23% on average, and response time was also prolonged to a mean of 4.2 hours (1.8 hours for official requests). However, there is one vulnerability in this technology: In the event that the receiver actively takes the screenshot of the chat interface within the period that the double tick is hidden, GB WhatsApp will notify the receiver with a risk warning, which has a 68% probability trigger. Such a design led to more than 12,000 couple conflicts in Mexico City during the second quarter of 2025.
GB WhatsApp’s privacy boost is rooted in the deep-level modifications to APK files. The “Status Simulator” component has been incorporated into its codebase, which can generate fake server heartbeat signals (after 20 minutes), so the account continues to look like being “active” even when the user is offline. Security company Check Point discovered in 2025 that the technology caused 18% greater power usage by devices and pushed the maximum CPU load to 92% in hot conditions (over 35°C), far above that of official apps at 43%. Despite the risk of hardware degradation and loss, market research firm Gartner numbers reveal that 86% of GB WhatsApp users worldwide will still rank this feature first in 2025. Especially in the health industry, 64% of Saudi Arabian doctors have increased work productivity by 29% by concealing their online status in order to avoid unnecessary consultations.
These technical aids, nonetheless, face legal challenges. In October 2025, the European Union used the Digital Services Act to compel GB WhatsApp to reveal the logic of the code for its privacy features or face a fine of 2.2 million euros per day. In the meantime, its double-check hidden feature has also been abused by criminal gangs: Data from the Malaysian police shows that in the cases of fraud carried out with the assistance of GB WhatsApp in 2025, 82% have relied on “read status deception” to extend the trust period of the victims, and the average loss value per case rose from 3,800 US dollars to 6,200 US dollars. Despite controversies, GB WhatsApp continues evolving through the “Dynamic Privacy Agreement”. For example, in the version v12.3 which was released in August 2025, users can customize the whitelist behind the double checkmark (with up to 5 emergency contacts being set). Download numbers of the feature were over 48 million times in its first week when it covered 63% of new users onboarded that month.