Turning on Protect IP address in calls relays all of a user’s calls through WhatsApp’s servers, according to WhatsApp’s Help Center. WhatsApp says calls are then not connected directly, and the setting avoids revealing the caller’s internet protocol address to the person being called.

The switch sits under Advanced in the Privacy menu, and WhatsApp’s article covers Android, iPhone and Mac.

How to turn it on

WhatsApp gives these steps for Android:

  1. Tap More Options (three vertical dots) > Settings > Privacy.
  2. Tap Advanced.
  3. Turn Protect IP address in calls on.

WhatsApp’s page lists the third step as “Turn Protect IP address in calls on or off”, so the same switch turns the feature back off later. The page shows no separate control for undoing it, and no restart or other step is mentioned in the Android instructions.

The article also has separate tabs for iPhone and Mac. The iPhone and Mac steps are not reproduced here, so anyone on either device should open the matching tab on WhatsApp’s page.

What it costs you

A note on the same page sets out the trade-off. “When using call relaying, you might find the call quality is reduced,” WhatsApp says. The Help Center does not say how much quality might drop, when it is most likely to drop, or what a reduced call sounds or looks like in practice.

That possible reduction is the trade-off for keeping the call off a direct connection.

Anyone who finds calls worse after turning the setting on can return to the Advanced menu and switch it off again, using the same three steps. The page gives no middle setting between relayed and direct calls, so it presents the choice as one or the other.

What it does not change

WhatsApp says group calls are always relayed through its servers by default. The setting therefore applies to one-to-one calls, which would otherwise be connected directly. The note describes that group call relaying as the default.

The setting does not change the encryption either. WhatsApp’s note states that calls relayed through its servers are end-to-end encrypted, like all calls on WhatsApp.

The relay changes the route the call takes and who can see the IP address, and reduced call quality is the only other effect the page mentions. Calls relayed through WhatsApp’s servers are end-to-end encrypted, like all calls on WhatsApp, the company says.

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