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If you’ve ever worried about someone peeking at your DMs, a new WhatsApp feature could save you some stress.
The messaging app will soon allow you to lock your private chats so that they can only be accessed with biometric data, such as your fingerprint or a passcode.
A smart user saw the feature in an unreleased feature WhatsApp update currently being tested through the Google Play Beta program.
This is a subscription service that gives Android users exclusive access to new versions of apps available on the Google Play Store.
Screenshots shared on WABetaInfo reveal that WhatsApp users can add a chat to a special “locked chats” list.
Leaked screenshots show that WhatsApp users can add a chat to a list of ‘locked chats’. These are only accessible with biometric data, such as a fingerprint or access code
To access the messages in it, the user has to enter their passcode or biometrics, which adds an extra layer of security.
The leak also states that if someone tries to open a locked chat, but can’t provide the necessary authentication, they will given the option to have all messages in it deleted in order to gain access.
Any media, such as photos and videos, sent within a locked chat will also not be automatically saved to the phone’s gallery, keeping it private as well.
This feature is available in WhatsApp version 2.23.8.2, which is currently undergoing beta testing, but its existence indicates that it will soon be rolled out in the Android app.
Since most Apple devices also support biometric authentication, through fingerprints and Face ID, it will likely be made available in the App Store version as well.
Other WhatsApp features reportedly being tested through the Google Play Beta program include the ability to send text and audio messages that can only be played once.
News of these privacy-focused additions comes just a month after WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said he would rather ban the app in the UK than remove its end-to-end encryption.
The government may soon ban this security feature, which encrypts the content of messages to protect them from hackers, through the Online Safety Bill.
This legislation could require technology companies to scan the content of messages sent through their social platforms for illegal content.
However, this would likely force them to weaken or abolish their own security measures.
WhatsApp cannot see messages sent through its own service, so it cannot comply with requests from law enforcement to, for example, transfer them for anti-terror purposes or to identify and remove child abuse material.
Mr Cathcart said that undermining the privacy of WhatsApp messages in the UK would do so to all its users worldwide.
“There’s no way to turn it into just one part of the world,” he said.
“Some countries have chosen to block it: that’s the reality of sending a safe product.
“For example, we were recently blocked in Iran. But we’ve never seen a liberal democracy do that.’
This feature comes just a month after WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said he would rather ban the app in the UK than remove end-to-end encryption (stock image)
He added: “The reality is that our users around the world want security.
“Ninety-eight percent of our users are outside the UK. They don’t want us to lower the security of the product, and to be clear, it would be a strange choice for us to choose to lower the security of the product in a way that would affect those 98 percent of the users. ‘
Mr Cathcart was openly critical of the online security law in September, saying it was ‘mysterious’ that governments wanted to weaken security, not strengthen it.
The UK government stressed that the bill “does not represent a ban on end-to-end encryption” and that “we can and must have both privacy and child safety.”
But it also doesn’t explicitly state how it would be possible to check the content of messages and continue encryption, creating a “grey area.”
MailOnline has reached out to WhatsApp for comment.