WhatsApp for Android has just received a new feature called ‘Fingerprint Lock’. This feature will definitely make the app more secure, as it makes sure prying eyes will stay out of your WhatsApp messages, even if you allow them to use the phone.
‘Fingerprint Lock’ offers an extra layer of security for WhatsApp
‘Fingerprint Lock’ for WhatsApp is basically a feature that allows you to lock WhatsApp separately from anything else. If you navigate to Settings -> Accounts -> Privacy -> Fingerprint Lock, you’ll be able to enable this feature.
All you have to do is flip the switch on the ‘Unlock with fingerprint’ option, and the app will ask you to confirm your fingerprint. Once you do that, you’re good to go.
This applies if you already have set your fingerprint on a system-level, of course, if not, you’ll be prompted to do that first. WhatsApp simply taps into your system-level fingerprint, of course.
In the ‘Fingerprint Lock’ menu, you can actually tweak some additional options. You can prompt WhatsApp to lock itself immediately after you leave the app, after one minute, or after 30 minutes.
There is also an option that allows you to hide WhatsApp messages in your notification shade, before you unlock WhatsApp. That gives you the ultimate privacy when it comes to WhatsApp messages.
This feature has been available for iOS for a while now
This feature has been available for WhatsApp on iOS for a while now. The company rolled out a similar feature for both Touch ID and Face ID earlier this year. It took the company a while to do the same for Android, but it’s finally here.
This is the first major feature that WhatsApp added since April. That applies for the stable version of the app, at least.
Why April? Well, back in April, WhatsApp allowed you to prevent unwanted group invites. That feature was probably the most requested one. Many people complained about this, as they ended up in unwanted groups.
Some people from the industry actually complained about this, as anyone with their number was able to throw them in a random group.
WhatsApp will get a rather unwanted ‘feature’ next year. Ads are coming to WhatsApp, even though they will not be as intrusive as some people expect. ‘Status Ads’ are coming, and they should appear only on your profile page, basically.
This may change over time, but that is the form we’re expecting them in at first. Whatever the case, people are not happy about the change, which is understandable.