WhatsApp has announced a new feature called “Chat Lock” that allows users to keep certain conversations more private. The tool lets you lock any conversation, which puts it in. a private record that can only be accessed by biometrics, such as a fingerprint or face scanor entering a password.
Also, references to locked conversations are automatically hidden from the notification feed, meaning you get a notification but the message and its sender are not visible. Meta announced that users can now choose lock chat by double tapping individual or group chat and selecting the lock function.
Locked chats do not appear automatically in the main WhatsApp interface and users have to scroll down the inbox to open the separate folder. To access you will either need to enter a password or use your device’s biometric authentication.
For now, you will have to use the same password as your phone, but WhatsApp plans to introduce a custom password option in the future. While this is a pretty basic feature for now, the company says it will add other features soon, like the ability to use chat lock on companion devices. As a reminder, you now have the option to link several smartphones to one account. Better still, Meta recently launched a WhatsApp app on smartwatches running Wear OS 3 like the Galaxy Watch S5 or Pixel Watch.
