Meta-owned WhatsApp on Thursday launched secret code feature for millions of users, an additional way to protect sensitive chats on its platform.
With a secret code, the users will be able to set a unique password different from what they use to unlock their phones to give their locked chats an extra layer of privacy.
“Rolling out secret code to Chat Lock on WhatsApp so you can protect your chats with a unique password. Now you can set your locked chats to only appear when you type the secret code in the search bar, so no one can unintentionally discover your most private conversations,” Meta Founder and CEO mark Zuckerberg said on his WhatsApp Channel.
You’ll have the option to hide the Locked Chats folder from your chatlist so that they can only be discovered by typing your secret code in the search bar.
“If that doesn’t suit your needs, you can still choose to have them appear in your chatlist. Whenever there’s a new chat which you want to lock, you can now long press to lock it rather than visiting the chat’s settings,” the company said in a statement.
The move will make the chats harder to find if someone has access to your phone or you share a phone with someone else.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp had rolled out Chat Lock to help people protect their more sensitive conversations.