- Kyle Chua
WhatsApp Rolls Out Chat Locks For Secure Private Conversations
Updated: Dec 19, 2023
WhatsApp continues to expand its privacy features to help you keep your chat data as secure as possible.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced the rollout of a new feature called Chat Lock for the popular messaging service. Chat Locks allow you to secure your most intimate conversations behind a separate, password-protected folder.
"Locking a chat takes that thread out of the inbox and puts it behind its own folder that can only be accessed with your device password or biometric, like a fingerprint," as Meta explains. "It also automatically hides the contents of that chat in notifications too."
When someone messages you and you have that chat locked, the sender’s name and the content of the message would also be hidden. That means even if someone else gains access to your device, your private chats likely won't get compromised.
To lock a chat, you have to tap the name of a one-to-one or group and select the lock option. Meanwhile, to reveal locked chats, you have to slowly pull down on your inbox and enter your device's password or biometric.
Meta says the feature is great if you have to share your device with, say, family members from time to time or when you hand your device to someone and you're expecting to receive private messages. The social media giant added that it plans to expand on the feature in the coming months, including adding an option to put a lock on companion devices and custom passwords for your chats so that you can use a unique password different from your device's.
The feature is rolling out now. It joins WhatsApp's growing list of privacy features, such as end-to-end encryption and encrypted backups, disappearing messages, screenshot blocking and the ability to control who can see when you were last online, among others.
WhatsApp has announced the roll out of a new feature called Chat Lock, which allow you to secure your most intimate conversations behind a separate, password-protected folder.
When someone messages you and you have that chat locked, the sender’s name and the content of the message would also be hidden.
To lock a chat, you have to tap the name of a one-to-one or group and select the lock option.