WhatsApp Launches Secret Codes for Enhanced Privacy

WhatsApp, the popular messaging platform, has announced the introduction of a new feature called “secret codes” that allows you to add an extra layer of privacy to blocked conversations. This new option, initially launched this year to hide sensitive conversations, now allows you to further protect them, making them harder to detect in case someone has access to your phone.

Hide Locked Chat Conversations with a Secret Code

Instead of displaying all the locked conversations in a list, you can now choose to hide them behind a different password from the one used to lock your phone. Your secret code can include letters, numbers, special characters, and emojis.

If you hide the locked chat from the chat list, they can only be uncovered by entering your secret code in the search bar. The idea behind this feature is to prevent people who have access to your phone from knowing that you have a locked chat list.

“We are introducing the secret code for WhatsApp’s Locked Chat, which allows you to protect your chats with a unique password,”

announced today Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on his WhatsApp channel.

“Now you can set your locked chats to appear only when you enter the secret code in the search bar, in such a way that no one can discover ‘inadvertently’ your more private conversations.”

It’s important to note that it is not mandatory to use a secret code and you can still choose to view your locked chats in the chat list if you wish.

Secret Codes Are Available Globally

The secret codes will be available globally in the coming months. WhatsApp introduced the Locked Chat functionality last year to allow users to lock their chats and insert them into a separate folder accessible only through the device’s password, facial ID, or fingerprint.

At the time, Meta had announced the intention to allow users to create a personalized password for their chats, so they could use a different password from their phone’s. Now, six months later, the company has kept its promise.

Additional Features of WhatsApp

The launch of this new functionality comes just a few weeks after WhatsApp introduced a new feature called ‘Voice Chats,’ similar to Discord, for large groups. This new feature is designed to be less intrusive than a group call that rings all members. Voice chats are deployed silently, without any ringing, through a bubble in the chat to which one can simply join by tapping it.