It’s been a while since WhatsApp added the option to ask for Face ID or Touch ID to unlock the app, so that other people using your phone can’t access your conversations. With its latest update, WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that lets users lock specific chats instead of the entire app.
WhatsApp’s new Chat Lock feature
As detailed by the company in a blog post, Chat Lock helps users protect their “most intimate conversations behind one more layer of security.” When the user locks a chat, it gets automatically moved to a secure folder called Locked Chats. To access this folder, the user needs to authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID. In addition, the contents of notifications for locked chats are automatically hidden.
According to WhatsApp, the feature is not only useful for those who don’t feel the need to lock the entire app, but also to add a second layer of security when someone else is holding your phone with WhatsApp open. But there are some things to keep in mind.
For example, chats are only locked on your main phone, but are still accessible from other devices connected to your WhatsApp account (such as a computer with WhatsApp Web). WhatsApp says it’s working on locking chats on companion devices and on an option to set a custom password for using Chat Lock.
For those already running the latest version of WhatsApp, you can lock a chat by tapping the name of the contact or group to show more details, and then enabling the Chat Lock option.
Other messaging apps like Telegram also offer the option to lock access to the app with Face ID and Touch ID. Apple’s iMessage, on the other hand, still lacks this feature. It would be great to have the option to lock specific chats in iMessage with Face ID or Touch ID. It’s a feature that should definitely be added to the Messages app with iOS 17.
More new features coming soon
More recently, WhatsApp has also announced other new features for its users. This includes the ability to use one WhatsApp account on two or more phones, as well as rolling out WhatsApp Pay to local merchants in Singapore. WhatsApp has also been working on its own version of animated emoji, as well as an option to edit sent messages.
WhatsApp is available for free on the App Store. It requires an iPhone running iOS 12 or later.
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