BY ESTHER MUTURI
WhatsApp is one of the most global popular mobile message applications in the world having over 2 billion people using the application every month.
In Kenya, data shows that 22 million people use WhatsApp daily.
WhatsApp has been updated over the years including adding end-to-, end encryption, stickers, group calling, and UPI payments. Now WhatsApp users will now be able to put specific chats on a lock called Chat Lock, which lets the user protect their most intimate conversations behind one more layer of security.
The Chat Lock feature was announced on Monday by Meta, which also owns Instagram and Facebook. Chat Lock takes a thread out of the inbox and puts it behind its own folder that can only be accessed with one’s device passwords or biometrics and automatically hides the contents of the chat in the notifications.
WhatsApp states in the Metablog that the feature will be great for those who have reason to share their phones with family members or those moments when someone is holding your phone at the exact moment an extra special chat arrives.
One can now lock a chat but tapping the name of a one-to-one or group and selecting the lock option. To reveal the chats, slowly pull down your inbox and enter the phone password or the biometric.
Over the next few months, there will be more options for Chat Lock, including locking for companion devices and creating a custom password for your chats so a unique password is used that will be different from the ones used for your phone.