Have some private messages on WhatsApp and don’t want others to see? Today, we will share with you several ways you can easily lock WhatsApp on Android mobile and protect your private conversations with password or fingerprint.
Enable native Fingerprint Lock in WhatsApp
The latest update on Dec 9, 2019 has introduced several useful privacy and security features. You can now control who can add you to groups, enable fingerprint lock on Whatsapp. If not yet, upgrade WhatsApp to the latest version 2.19.360 and follow below steps to turn on fringerprint lock on Whatsapp for Android.
Run WhatsApp on your phone. Tap on Menu (the three dot icon) on the top right corner. Choose Account > Privacy. On the Privacy screen, scroll all the way down to the bottom, find and tap on Fingerprint lock to turn it on and customize its settings.
On the next screen, touch the Unlock with fingerprint sensor option to enable fingerprint lock, confirm the fingerprint, select when you like WhatsApp to automatically lock your chats, immediately, after 1 minute or after 30 minutes.
Protect WhatsApp with password or fingerprint using your phone’s app lock
If you don’t want to use the WhatsApp fingerprint lock feature, your phone doesn’t support fingerprint lock, or you are using an old Whatsapp version which does not support fingerprint lock, double check your phone’s setting see if you can find the native app lock. Some smartphones, like Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, come with built-in app lock feature WhatsApp users can use to lock their private chat history and secret messages without using third-party app lockers. Refer to this guide to lock apps on Huawei mobile, and read another tutorial on how to lock apps on your Xiaomi, Redmi phone here.
Secure WhatsApp chat history using app lockers
Other than Whatsapp native fingerprint lock, your phone’s built-in app lock, there are many third-party apps you can choose to lock individual apps and even the phone settings on Android. These apps are usually very easy to use. You have to firstly setup a lock pattern, PIN, password or fingerprint. Then choose a lock recovery method, in case you forgot the lock, you can use it to retrieve or reset it. After that, find the app you want to protect and one tap to lock it down with the password, PIN, password or fingerprint you have just created. Following are some FREE app locks we like:
- Norton App Lock: a free and powerful app lock from Norton. Best of its kinds. Add PIN, password or pattern lock screen security to protect and lock apps and many more.
- AppLock for android: also available for free on Google Play store. This app provides various lock options such as password, pattern, fingerprint, and biometric as well. It is feature rich and very powerful. AppLock can lock Facebook, Whatsapp, Gallery, Messenger, Snapchat, Instagram, SMS, Contacts, Gmail, Settings, incoming calls and any app you choose.