Whatsapp New Features: Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp has introduced a new feature called ‘Chat Lock’ as an easy way to keep user conversations relatively private.
The facility to ‘lock’ the conversation has come to WhatsApp
In this new feature (Whatsapp New Features), the user’s locked conversations will be stored in a password or biometric-protected folder. Also, notifications for those conversations won’t show the identity of the sender or the original message.
Tech site Verge has speculated that Chat Lock will probably work like Apple’s photo-hiding feature in iCloud. Also, WhatsApp released a video on YouTube to give users an idea of the new feature.
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WhatsApp is already well-known for its ‘end-to-end encrypted messaging’ feature. However, it cannot block someone who already has the user’s unlocked phone. And if the messaging service is open, there is a risk of seeing his various messages.
Chat Lock adds an extra layer of security to it. This will be convenient for those users who regularly need to share their unlocked phone with someone. And the user can lock the entire WhatsApp using the ‘Biometric Authentication’ feature.
The chat lock feature has already been launched. Verge reports that more upgrades will be added to the feature in the future.
“Over the next few months, we’re going to be adding several new options to Chat Lock. This includes the ability to lock different devices connected to each other and create ‘custom passwords’ for user chats so that he can use a special password different from his own phone.” — wrote Meta in a blog post.
How to use Chat Lock on WhatsApp
- Download or update WhatsApp: Ensure that you have the latest version of WhatsApp on your Android or iOS device. You can download the app from the respective app stores.
- Go to the chat you want to lock: Open WhatsApp and navigate to the specific chat that you want to lock.
- Tap on the contact or group profile picture: Once you are in the chat, click on the profile picture of the contact or group to access more options.
- Select “Chat Lock”: Scroll down the menu until you see a new option called “Chat Lock,” which is located right below the disappearing message menu. Tap on it to proceed.
- Enable Chat Lock and authenticate: Once you tap on “Chat Lock,” you will be prompted to enable it. After enabling it, you will be required to authenticate using your phone password or biometrics (if available).
To access locked chats on WhatsApp
- Open WhatsApp and go to your home page: Once you open WhatsApp, you will see the home page that displays all your chats.
- Swipe down to access all locked chats: Swipe down on the screen to access all the locked chats. You will see all the chats that you have locked on WhatsApp.
- Tap on the locked chat you want to access: Select the chat that you want to access by tapping on it.
- Authenticate to unlock the chat: You will be required to authenticate using your phone password or biometrics (if available) to unlock the chat.
