By The WhatsApp app for Android offers a way to secure your conversations with a fingerprint lock, ensuring your personal messages remain private, even if someone else has access to your phone. However, using WhatsApp Web on laptops can pose security concerns as chats might not be as well-protected. To address this, WhatsApp Web has introduced a new feature that allows you to lock your chats with a password, enhancing your privacy.
WhatsApp Web is a convenient method to access your chats on a desktop without needing to switch between devices constantly. Some users in the WhatsApp Web beta testing phase have noticed a new security feature to safeguard their chats when they are away from their laptops. Within WhatsApp’s Privacy settings, there’s now an option for screen lock, enabling you to set a password for accessing WhatsApp Web.
Once you’ve established your password, you can select when to undergo identity verification. While details on these verification options are currently limited, it’s known that if you forget your password, you’ll need to log out of your web session and then log back in by scanning a QR code using your phone.
This additional layer of authentication significantly enhances the security and privacy of your chats. Even if you leave your computer unattended at work or home, others won’t be able to access your chats without knowing the designated WhatsApp password. However, it might be more user-friendly if WhatsApp incorporated the laptop’s biometric authentication, streamlining the process rather than requiring a lengthy password entry. While this feature is still in beta, WhatsApp might introduce more convenient options over time. In the meantime, utilizing a reliable password manager can expedite entering the new password.
The accompanying screenshot showcases WhatsApp Web’s locked state due to the screen lock feature, prompting a password to access conversation lists. To check if this feature is available for your WhatsApp account, navigate to WhatsApp Settings > Privacy. If accessible, you’ll find the screen lock entry point. Once activated, entering the password will be necessary to unlock WhatsApp Web. This screen also allows you to configure the feature by determining when the password prompt should appear. If you forget your password, you can regain access by logging out of WhatsApp Web and then logging back in by scanning the QR code.
Utilizing the screen lock feature on WhatsApp Web enhances privacy by ensuring that unauthorized individuals can’t access your chats without the password, even if they gain access to your computer. Additionally, push notifications won’t appear when the screen is locked. In our perspective, this feature significantly bolsters users’ ability to maintain conversation confidentiality, enhancing privacy and preventing unauthorized access to personal information.
The screen lock feature is available to select users using the latest version of WhatsApp Web beta and will progressively roll out to a broader audience in the upcoming weeks.
WhatsApp initially announced its work on password authentication for WhatsApp Web in November 2022. Following months of internal testing, this feature has finally arrived in the beta version of WhatsApp Web. However, it’s possible that you might not immediately see the new option within Privacy settings, as its rollout is gradual. The best approach is to patiently wait for it to become available to you over the next few days.
