Status: 18.12.2023, 15:25 PM
By: Sandra Sporer
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A WhatsApp privacy feature that was introduced in the middle of the year is now being expanded. Sensitive chats can be completely hidden in this way.
Bremen – Sensitive data should never be shared via WhatsApp for privacy and security reasons – even if the messenger offers some settings to protect your personal data. But even if you take this to heart, you may have one or two chats that you would never let a third party see.
This can be for very banal reasons, such as your best friend confiding in you about her lovesickness, but also more serious ones, such as a chat with a crisis counselling centre.
In both cases, of course, you want to keep the conversation confidential. Since May, this has been possible on WhatsApp with the chat block. The function has now been revised once again. Among other things, chats can now be blocked even faster and more easily.
WhatsApp change to chat block to provide more privacy
When Chat Lock was introduced, the device password or one's own fingerprint was used to open the "Locked Chats" folder. With the update, a separate password can now be set for this. This is a big plus in terms of security, because the owner of the smartphone is not always the only one who knows his device password.
WhatsApp is implementing some changes to chat locking. The function is intended to protect the privacy of users even better. © Silas Stein/IMAGO
Another measure for more privacy is that the folder with the locked chats can now be hidden and thus no longer appears in the list of active conversations. This way, only the user knows that they have blocked chats. "It's only when you type the secret code into the search bar that these chats can be discovered," WhatsApp explains in a post on its blog. The secret code here refers to the separately defined password.
New chat lock feature on WhatsApp will gradually be made available to all users
In addition, the company has simplified the blocking of chats. In the future, it will be sufficient to press longer on the chat to be blocked. Previously, you had to open the chat, tap on the contact or group name and then select "Block". This moved the conversation to the appropriate folder. Locked chats also don't show previews of incoming messages, WhatsApp informed when the chat lock was originally introduced.
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As reported by the portal Chip, the new feature is to be rolled out worldwide in the coming months. So, it may still be some time before all WhatsApp users can use the improved version of the chat lock. Another innovation is far less pleasing – an important WhatsApp feature will be paid for many users from December. (sp
)