WhatsApp’s been on a bit of a roll lately when it comes to shipping out updates. That tradition continues with the latest addition – Chat Lock. The point, as you’ve probably already figured out, is to keep a specific chat (or as Meta puts it: “extra special chat”) hidden behind a password, pin or fingerprint.
Banish them to the shadow realm
And for once, we’re talking about a feature that’s definitely coming, rather than some in-the-works beta feature spotted by WABetaInfo. Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature yesterday, along with the accompanying blog post. We also know when it’ll be arriving – today – though Meta has said the feature is “rolling out now” meaning the update could take a couple of days to reach your devices.
For those that already have the Chat Lock update installed, they’ll see that Locked Chats are sent to their own little folder, stored in a similar fashion to archived chats. To lock a chat, you’ll need to head over to a contact’s profile and click the ‘Chat Lock’ button on the front page. Once a profile is locked, message notifications are hidden, just in case some unwanted eyes are trying to peek at your phone.
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Nothing in life is perfect. The same goes for WhatsApp’s features, no matter how good they are. As it stands, Locked Chats can’t be given their own unique passwords, instead using the device’s locally stored PIN, password or biometric authentication. And if you were hoping that Locked Chats would carry over to your companion devices, they don’t. At least, not yet. Meta has acknowledged these quality-of-life problems and is working on these issues.