The WhatsApp messaging platform incorporates a number of features, such as the ability to share one’s live location with friends, use it on the web, and enable disappearing messages. One of the latest features introduced by the Meta-owned company, however, is chat lock.
Here’s everything you need to know about WhatsApp’s chat lock: what it offers, how it works, and how to set it up.
Chat Lock is a feature that gives you more privacy for chats you don’t want anyone to see. The messaging platform already offers the ability to archive chats, that is, to remove certain chats from the main inbox and place them in a separate archive folder located at the top of your chats.
As with archived chats, chats to which you apply the chat lock feature appear in a separate folder at the top of your main inbox, but this folder can only be opened using your password. device or a biometric identifier, such as your fingerprint. This means that to access it, someone will need to have your phone’s password. The idea is to “protect your most intimate conversations behind an extra layer of security”.
So even if someone else has your phone to take a picture, for example, or if you show them something, new messages from chats that have the lock feature enabled won’t appear until you don’t. unlocked the folder and opened them.
To use the Chat Lock feature, you must apply it individually to each chat you want to lock, similar to the Messages Disappearing feature when it first arrived on the platform.
To set up chat lock on WhatsApp and lock your chats for more privacy, follow the steps below:
- Open WhatsApp
- Tap on the Chats tab
- Tap on the individual chat you want to lock
- Tap on the name of the person or group at the top of the page.
- You will see the chat lock under the Disappearing Messages option.
- Click “Lock this chat with fingerprint”.
- Confirm chat lock with your fingerprint
- A popup saying “This chat is now locked” appears.
- There it’s done !
To find your locked chats in WhatsApp after applying chat lock, open WhatsApp and tap on the Chats tab. From there, you’ll need to slowly pull down on your main inbox and the Locked Chats inbox will appear at the top. Remember that you will need to authenticate using your phone’s password or biometrics to unlock the folder and see the chats you have locked.
It should be noted that WhatsApp also offers the option to lock the entire application on iOS devices. This prevents your inbox from appearing in the recent apps tray and requires you to unlock WhatsApp using your phone’s password or a biometric identifier like Face ID every time you want to open the application. This means that even if someone has your unlocked phone, they will need to know your password to open WhatsApp and read your messages.
Are there other features planned for Chat Lock?
Chat Lock is currently in its infancy, much like Disappearing Messages was when it launched. Since the launch of Disappeared Messages, for example, WhatsApp has added a number of features, such as different timer options and the ability to apply the feature system-wide, rather than to each individual chat.
WhatsApp said it will also add new features to Chat Lock in the coming months, including lock for companion devices, as well as the ability to create a custom password for locked chats, so you can use a unique password different from that of your telephone.
Chat Lock started rolling out on May 15, 2023. You’ll need to make sure you’re using the latest version of WhatsApp on your device to get it.
