There was a day when a friend of mine went through my WhatsApp chats and the conversation that precedes it was quite unpleasant anyway If you prefer your conversations to stay hidden from the eye of anyone with physical access to your device, WhatsApp also has a few features which can help you maintain your privacy.
Keep in mind that when it comes to protecting vital personal information stored on your phone, the first line of defence is preventing access to your device entirely. You can go ahead and enable advanced security features options like fingerprint unlock or PIN and unlock pattern but the biggest peace of mind comes in when you know no one is touching your phone.
If you would like additional protection for selected WhatsApp conversations, however, we have outlined two options you can do this below.
Archiving
Using the “Archive Chat” option, you can move a selected chat into a special folder within WhatsApp which is hidden from the main Chats interface. Very often the easiest way to secure something is to hide it entirely, and WhatsApp allows you to do exactly this with whichever chats you choose.
This archived chat can be accessed later and can be restored to the standard Chats interface from the Archived Chats menu.
To archive a chat, simply tap and hold the chat you wish to hide, and select the Archive icon from the top bar.
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Archived chats can be found at the bottom of the Chats screen, and users can unarchive chats in the same manner.
It is important to note that when you receive a new message from an archived chat, it will reappear in the main WhatsApp interface.
Password locking
If you want to block access to single chats or your WhatsApp app altogether, you can try to lock chats behind a password or biometric authentication.
This is easier for iPhone users, who can simply lock their WhatsApp from being accessed without authentication through the app’s settings menu. This can be done by navigating to Settings > Account > Privacy and changing a single menu option.
Android users have to rely on third-party applications to lock specific chats or hide their entire application behind another wall of security. Using the native archive option is usually the best only alternative that makes sense however, popular smartphone brands like Samsung and Huawei have inbuilt dedicated private space or folders i.e. Secure Folder applications and PrivateSpace respectively.
