How to Lock WhatsApp on Android and iPhone
WhatsApp is one of the most popular apps among smartphone users today. It allows you to communicate with individuals or groups, exchanging messages, photos, and videos.
However, it can be uncomfortable if someone, like a friend or another person, borrows your phone and casually opens your WhatsApp. This is especially concerning if you have private conversations you prefer to keep confidential.
To protect your privacy when others borrow your phone, locking WhatsApp is a good solution. The Carisinyal team has compiled several safe and easy methods to lock your WhatsApp, ensuring your privacy remains secure.
How to Lock WhatsApp on Android
The first method is to lock the WhatsApp app on your Android phone using biometric security. You can use a fingerprint sensor, face recognition, or any other biometric system available on your device.
When you want to access WhatsApp, you'll need to unlock it using one of these biometric options. Here are the steps to enable this feature:
- Open the WhatsApp app on your phone.
- Tap the three-dot icon in the top right corner.
- Select Settings.
- Choose Privacy.
- Tap on App Lock.
- Toggle Unlock with Biometric to activate it.
Once you've completed all the steps, your WhatsApp application will be locked. This means you'll need to use your fingerprint or other biometric security options to access WhatsApp.
You can also set a time delay for when the app lock activates after closing WhatsApp. In the Automatically lock settings, you can choose from three options:
- Immediately, which locks WhatsApp as soon as it's closed
- After 1 minute
- After 30 minutes
To protect your privacy further, you can control whether or not message content is displayed in notifications. Adjust this in the Show content in notification option. If enabled, the message content will appear in notifications. If disabled, the notification will not show the content of the messages.
How to Lock WhatsApp on iPhone
iPhone users can also easily lock the WhatsApp app. The difference from Android is that iOS uses either the Touch ID or Face ID feature, depending on the iPhone model you're using.
The steps are quite similar to those on Android. Here's how to do it:
- Open the WhatsApp app on your iPhone.
- Go to the Settings menu.
- Select Privacy.
- Tap on App Lock.
- Enable Require Touch ID or Require Face ID.
Similar to locking WhatsApp on Android, you can also set a delay for when the app locks. What's interesting is that iOS offers more time options: Immediately, 1 minute, 15 minutes, or 1 hour.
However, unlike Android, iOS doesn't offer the option to manage the content displayed in notifications. All incoming messages will still appear in the notification drawer. If you prefer more privacy, you can hide notifications through the WhatsApp settings.
That's how you can lock WhatsApp on both Android and iPhone. While it might feel a bit inconvenient to unlock the app each time, this feature ensures that your privacy is well-protected.