WhatsApp recently announced on Monday (15 May) about a new feature that allows user to lock their chats on the app, Chat Lock, with the company saying that it allows people to make their “most intimate conversations even more private”.
The chats will be locked and only accessible to the user via the entry of the phone’s password or biometrics, and the contents of the chat will stay hidden, even from the notifications.
WhatsApp’s statement
Chat Lock: Making your most intimate conversations even more private
Our passion is to find new ways to help keep your messages private and secure. Today, we’re excited to bring to you a new feature we’re calling Chat Lock, which lets you protect your most intimate conversations behind one more layer of security.
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. It also automatically hides the contents of that chat in notifications, too.
We think this feature will be great for people who have reason to share their phones from time to time with a family member or those moments where someone else is holding your phone at the exact moment an extra special chat arrives. You can lock a chat by tapping the name of a one-to-one or group and selecting the lock option. To reveal these chats, slowly pull down on your inbox and enter your phone password or biometric.
Over the next few months we’re going to be adding more options for Chat Lock, including locking for companion devices and creating a custom password for your chats so that you can use a unique password different from the one you use for your phone.
Tell your friends about Chat Lock, which is rolling out now.