WhatsApp adding feature to lock chats with a password

WhatsApp announced a new feature on Monday that is designed to give users an additional layer of security for their private conversations.

The new “Chat Lock” feature lets users lock a chat, which takes that thread out of the inbox and places it behind its own folder that can only be accessed with a device password or biometric, such as a fingerprint.

Upon locking a chat, WhatsApp says it will also automatically hide the contents of that chat in notifications. 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, you must pull down on your inbox and enter your phone password or biometric.

WhatsApp is the most widely-used messaging application in Israel and is used to communicate even more frequently than SMS.

Other new WhatsApp privacy features 

The announcement comes just weeks after the Meta-owned company rolled out another handy new feature - the ability to use a single WhatsApp account across multiple phones. 

This is an expansion on last year's new feature of multi-device messaging. WhatsApp claims to have solved the security and privacy issues which had previously prevented this highly requested feature from being implemented. 

The new feature allows users to link their phone as one of four additional devices sharing a single WhatsApp account. This means users will be able to link their phones, web browsers, tablets, and desktops, together allowing for seamless messaging. Each device will independently connect to WhatsApp ensuring the private messages, media, and calls are end-to-end encrypted. To help ensure safety, if the primary device is inactive for too long, WhatsApp will automatically log out users from all devices that are connected.