[gabriel g smit]

hi!
i am a medical practitioner and use whatsapp as a convenient way of interacting with patients who for instance send me images of skin conditions to make a preliminary diagnosis whether the situation can be treated at home or whether a visit to casualty or my rooms would be wiser.
the problem is that in order to let all patients on my private number know that in future they have to use another phone number [the emergency number] for whatsapp i have to send group messages BUT in doing so everyone in the group can see who else is on the group, which contravenes personal information protection laws. is there a way to create a group on whatsapp WITHOUT the recipients being able to identify one another, either by name or number?
kind regards
gabriel

[Javier P]

hi!
i am a medical practitioner and use whatsapp as a convenient way of interacting with patients who for instance send me images of skin conditions to make a preliminary diagnosis whether the situation can be treated at home or whether a visit to casualty or my rooms would be wiser.
the problem is that in order to let all patients on my private number know that in future they have to use another phone number [the emergency number] for whatsapp i have to send group messages BUT in doing so everyone in the group can see who else is on the group, which contravenes personal information protection laws. is there a way to create a group on whatsapp WITHOUT the recipients being able to identify one another, either by name or number?
kind regards
gabriel

Welcome to the forums. I'm not sure if that's possible, but my guess is that WhatsApp won't let you do it once a group is created. You could try a different approach.

On the chat list screen tap the three dots top right, tap 'new broadcast', select as many contacts as you want, confirm the selection and then type the message. This way you'll send the same message to all the contacts that you selected and this selection can be used again for new messages. The big difference with a group is that this way they will get the message individually, solving your privacy issues.

[Javier P]

See this page for more information.

https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/...tegory=5245251

[gabriel g smit]

thanks javier , i looked at it and it might work!

[Javier P]

thanks javier , i looked at it and it might work!

Glad it helped! Tell us how it goes.

[treetopsranch]

Don't they have a BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) mode like all email programs have? That way no one can see any other names or addresses.

[Javier P]

Don't they have a BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) mode like all email programs have? That way no one can see any other names or addresses.

That's basically how the broadcasts work, same message sent individually to as many contacts as you want. Groups work differently though, everyone in the group can reply, the replies are visible for all and the contact information is shared. Others IM apps, like Telegram, include more options to keep personal information more private, even in groups.