Mark Zuckerberg has announced a new WhatsApp feature called Chat Lock. This feature lets users protect their most intimate conversations with a password, secure them in a separate folder, and when someone messages the user and has that chat locked, the sender’s name and the content of the message will also be hidden.
Locking a chat takes that thread out of the inbox and puts it behind its own folder that can only be accessed with the user’s device password or biometric, like a fingerprint. It also automatically hides the contents of that chat in notifications too.
WhatsApp thinks 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 the phone at the exact moment an extra special chat arrives. One can lock a chat by tapping the name of a one-to-one or group and selecting the lock option. To reveal these chats, one needs to slowly pull down on the inbox and enter the phone password or biometric.
“Our passion is to find new ways to help keep your messages private and secure. 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,” WhatsApp said in a statement.
Over the next few months WhatsApp is going to be adding more options for Chat Lock, including locking for companion devices, creating a custom password for chats so that one can use a unique password different from the phone.
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