In what the company is describing as enhanced privacy and security for your messages, WhatsApp has announced a new feature, Chat Lock on Monday. The new feature aims to provide an extra layer of security to your most sensitive conversations.
The Chat Lock feature enables users to secure specific chat threads behind a unique folder, which can be accessed only through the device password or a biometric method such as fingerprint authentication. This feature automatically conceals the content of the chat in notifications as well, adding a further layer of privacy.
The feature is expected to be particularly useful for individuals who occasionally share their phones with family members, or for those unexpected moments when a confidential chat pops up while someone else is handling your device. To lock a chat, users simply tap the name of a one-to-one or group chat and select the lock option. The locked chats can be accessed by pulling down on the inbox and entering the phone password or biometric, such as Touch ID or Face ID on Apple’s iPhones.
In the coming months WhatsApp will bring further enhancements to Chat Lock, with additional options such as the ability to lock chats for companion devices and the option to create a unique password for chats, separate from the device password.
The Chat Lock feature is currently being rolled out, says WhatsApp, noting “tell your friends about Chat Lock.”
Check out the video demo below:
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented on Chat Lock today as well, saying, “New locked chats in WhatsApp make your conversations more private. They’re hidden in a password protected folder and notifications won’t show sender or message content.”
Chat Lock brings further privacy to conversations and is something iMessage should integrate at some point as well. There’s nothing worse than seeing some embarrassing notifications pop up from your group chats that aren’t silenced. On iPhone, it is possible to lock down the opening of WhatsApp with Face ID or Touch ID, but that doesn’t stop or hide notifications from chats.
We’re not seeing WhatsApp Chat Lock in Canada yet, but if you are, let us know in the comments.
