Update November 30, 2023: Mark Zuckerberg has just announced on his WhatsApp channel that you can now create an individual secret code – meaning a sequence of numbers – for blocked chats. Once a code is created, it can be used to unlock blocked chats in the chat list hideso they only appear when the secret code is entered into the search bar.
You can protect every chat like this. Simply press and hold on the locked chat until Whatsapp displays a selection menu. From there, select the menu item “Block Chat”. Whatsapp explains the secret code for chat blocking in more detail in this blog entry. What’s new now is that you can not only block chats from unauthorized access, but can also make it invisible.
A stranger cannot access chats that are blocked in this way, even if they have access to your smartphone. In addition, these secret codes are intended to protect sensitive WhatsApp chats of particularly vulnerable people. Whatsapp is probably thinking primarily about regime critics and those persecuted in authoritarian states.
Meta is rolling out the secret code starting today. It should be available worldwide in the coming months.
Update end, beginning of the original message from April 2023:
Whatsapp has been developing an important protection function for your privacy and data protection for several months. WABetainfo, a portal that specializes in detecting new features in the popular messenger, had already discovered in April in the Whatsapp beta for Android 2.23.8.2 that Android users had the option of entering individual chats with a PIN or fingerprint to secure access by strangers.
In the new Whatsapp Beta for Android 2.23.21.8, WABetainfo discovered further information about this new protection function, which is currently not available. You can therefore protect the protected chats with a freely selectable code/password. This code/password then replaces the mobile phone PIN or fingerprint. The advantage: Even if a stranger falls into the PIN for your cell phone, that person still has no access to your protected WhatsApp chats because they require their own password.
This is what access protection brings to the chats: You can quickly hand over your smartphone and give it to someone else to use without them being able to browse through all your WhatsApp chats. Chats that are particularly important to you or that contain particularly confidential content can be protected from prying eyes, even if someone else is using your cell phone.
Menus have already been created
In the Whatsapp Beta for Android 2.23.8.5, WABetainfo noted that Whatsapp has now integrated the corresponding menu into the beta version to use this new function. You will therefore find a separate entry for “Locked Chats” under the “Chats” menu item. In the settings for each chat there will be a new entry in which you can select the “Chat lock” item. As soon as you lock a chat in this way, you will find it under the “Locked Chats” overview.
Another advantage: photos, audio files and videos shared in a locked chat are not automatically saved to the device’s gallery. Whatsapp also issues a notification if someone tries to access such a chat without authorization.
For now only for beta testers
This exciting feature, known as “Locked chats”, is currently still in development and is not yet available in the final version of Whatsapp. WABetainfo has published a screenshot here showing the new menu items for “Locked Chats”.
It is unknown when WhatsApp will unlock this innovation for all users.
More news about WhatsApp
BKA warns of new WhatsApp scam
WhatsApp is introducing an exciting new feature – for the second time
Whatsapp: These exciting innovations are now available
Whatsapp: All innovations and improvements for 2022 at a glance
Protect Whatsapp messages from prying eyes – here’s how it works