WhatsApp can now be locked via Face or Touch ID

We like to believe that “personal messaging” is indeed personal, but the truth is that anything in this big bad world of the internet is far from personal. Most messaging apps don’t offer end-to-end encryption, (WhatsApp is one of the few) meaning that your messages can easily be intercepted, and valuable information gained should someone need it. Often these messages are also stored in the cloud, meaning that some company out there has the ability to read everything you say. It’s pretty scary.

Thankfully, for many of us who aren’t famous, no one actually cares about our personal messages and data, but that doesn’t make it okay for it to be available. Furthermore, it doesn’t prevent someone from stealing your phone or device and having access to all of your conversations. Something which Facebook wants to improve through WhatsApp by integrating the software with Face ID or Touch ID on Apple devices, meaning that not only do you need the device, but it needs to verify that you are indeed the one looking at it. Yes, your parents might not be too happy about this feature.

The new feature has been made available in a recent update 2.19.20 and can be enabled though the app’s Privacy menu within the Account Settings. Sadly, the update is only available to iPhone users for now. Perhaps understandably the company has decided to first roll it out to this user base beware attempting it on Android and its 100 different flavours of the same thing. Still, its another move by the company to further enhance security and show that they are taking privacy seriously.

That is until they merge all the data with Facebook and Instagram and then end up knowing you better than you know yourself. Baby steps I guess.

Last Updated: February 5, 2019