WhatsApp is the most widely used instant messaging app worldwide. Among the many reasons why users continue to opt for this platform are its security features. And, although not everyone knows it, the app allows you to hide your conversations from prying eyes with passwords.
Normally, we users have a code so that only we can unlock our phone. Therefore, all the information stored on the smartphone should be safe. Sometimes, we give the lock pattern or key to trusted people. But that doesn’t mean we want them to have access to our messages.
If you want to provide a double layer of security to your WhatsApp conversations, you can put a password on the ones you want. This is a way to identify yourself uniquely for you and, even if they enter the application, they will not be able to access the chats.
Restrict a chat on WhatsApp
The feature in question that helps you keep your most private messages “under lock and key” is the chat restriction feature. This WhatsApp security option is quite simple to implement. You just have to enter the messaging application and find the conversation you want to hide in the main interface and hold it down for a few seconds.
On the iPhone, several options will be displayed; while on Android phones, three dots will appear in the upper right corner with the same actions. For both situations, WhatsApp will show you the following:
- Mark as unread
- File
- Mute
- Restrict Chat
- Add to Favorites
The one we are interested in is the penultimate one, “Restrict chat.” WhatsApp will inform you that this function will make the chat restricted and hidden. The iOS version will allow you to use your face, with Apple’s Face ID technology, and the Android operating system version will tell you to use your face or your fingerprint. When you select Continue, you will see how the conversation disappears from the main interface of the messaging platform. To access the chat, you must click on the Restricted chats area that appears above. It will only open if you decide to do so with your biometric data.
If you want to delete a conversation from Restricted Chats, you will have to enter this section and do the same as at the beginning. That is, you will have to hold down the chat for a few seconds until you access the various available actions. But instead of clicking on Restrict chat, you will have to click on “Unlock chat”.
How to hide restricted chats?
As we have already mentioned, the conversations that we restrict appear at the top of the main WhatsApp interface. Therefore, anyone who accesses the application could see that we are hiding something from them. To prevent anyone from noticing this, you can hide restricted chats.
You just need to enter the section that is enabled for these conversations and go to Settings, in the upper right corner. There you will see the option to hide restricted chats. When you activate it, WhatsApp will ask you to create a secret code that only you will know.
Once you’ve set a password, you’ll just have to enter it in the WhatsApp search bar every time you want to access a private conversation. In addition, the platform will continue to only open chats if you provide your fingerprint or face, so you’ll have an unbreakable layer of security.
It is worth noting that if you create a new code, WhatsApp will stop restricting and empty the chats from this secret folder. This is something to keep in mind in case you consider changing the password later. Otherwise, you could leave your most private conversations that you wanted to keep “under lock and key” visible to everyone.
