WhatsApp has rolled out a security feature for billions of its users. Dubbed WhatsApp Locked Chats, the feature lets you lock particular chats from appearing on the home screen of the app. Of course, you can still lock the app as a whole, this particular feature enables users to lock individual chats without interfering with access to WhatsApp whatsoever.
The feature is still in its infancy stage available via WhatsApp v2.23.9.22 (for Android). It will take some time for the feature to arrive on your device since the rollout is in phase. You can get yourself familiar with how to lock WhatsApp chats, access them, and unlock them using the instructions mentioned below.
How To Lock WhatsApp Chats on Android & iOS?
Let’s see how you can lock WhatsApp Chats on your smartphone. Note that you need WhatsApp v2.23.9.22 to get your hands on the feature.
- First, launch WhatsApp on your phone.
- Locate the contact that you want to lock and go to the particular conversations.
- Next, tap on the contact name which is how you open someone’s profile on WhatsApp.
- Scroll down to find the ‘Chat Lock’ option that is located just after the ‘Disappearing Messages’ option.
- If you have archived the chat, you will be asked to unarchive it before proceeding.
- The next screen should appear asking you to ‘Lock this chat with fingerprint’ that you need to toggle.
- Finally, you will get a prompt that the particular chat has been locked and no one can spot it let alone access it.
Note: You can follow the same procedure for iOS on iPhones with the latest WhatsApp version installed. You have the option to choose from Face ID and fingerprint when locking the chats on WhatsApp.
How To Access Locked Chats on WhatsApp?
Now that you have locked a chat on WhatsApp, check out how you can access these chats that are hidden in plain sight.
- Open WhatsApp on your device.
- Swipe down under the tab ‘Chats’ much like how you would refresh an Instagram feed that will reveal the ‘Locked Chats’ option on top.
- Click on the ‘Locked Chats’ where the app prompts you to provide biometrics as said.
- Once your credentials are authenticated, you will get access to all the locked chats with ease.
- You can simply get out of the locked chats so that they can hide again.
- Note that every time you close the app after responding to locked chats, you will have to provide the fingerprint or Face ID for authentication.
How to Turn Off Chat Lock for WhatsApp Chats?
Let’s say you had locked a chat from appearing on the home screen for quite some time and wanted to unlock it. Here are the easy step-by-step instructions to follow.
- First up, open WhatsApp on your device.
- Access the ‘Locked Chats’ option the way you need in the previous section.
- Click on the contact name that you want to unlock and proceed to ‘Chat Lock’.
- Toggle off ‘Lock this chat with fingerprint’.
- Viola, now you have unlocked that particular chat on WhatsApp for normal usage.
