WhatsApp has recently announced WhatsApp on Smartwatch and WearOS, and several features were released with the Beta version of WhatsApp on Mobile and Desktop. The new features include Chat Lock, which you can use to lock your chats in a protected folder using biometric or passcode authentication; the ability to keep messages from disappearing, allowing you to keep messages safe from disappearing after a set period; and a redesigned Context Menu inspired by iOS, just like Bottom Navigation. Without further ado, let’s check out more about this.
WhatsApp Chat Lock
Mark Zuckerberg announced the Chat Lock feature for iOS and Android through the Official Meta Channel. This feature allows users to lock their chats in a protected folder. It can be enabled from the chat information by clicking the lock option. If you have closed the conversation, the locked chat will appear in the locked chats section and can only be unlocked using a passcode, fingerprint, or Face ID.
This feature has several benefits that will offer extra layers of privacy to those who want to keep their conversations confidential, especially for those who share their phone with others or are concerned about someone else accessing their messages. This feature is currently available in beta. To join the beta, you can update WhatsApp for Android from the Google Play Store Beta Programme and iOS from the App Store via the TestFlight app. It is expected to be rolled out as a stable release to more users over the coming days and to everyone in the coming weeks, which means this option will only be available if the feature is available for their account.
How WhatsApp Chat Lock Works
This new feature allows users to lock their conversations in a protected folder. For this, users can lock a chat by going to Chat Info and selecting the Lock Option, which prompts them to create a password or use biometric authentication to lock the chat. Once the chat is closed, it will appear in the locked chat section of the app. If you want to open a locked chat, a prompt will ask you to enter your passcode or use biometric authentication. Once this feature is enabled, the author and message preview in notifications won’t have any preview for chat notifications, and media won’t automatically be shared in the Chats to the Phone’s Gallery.
Keep Messages and Redesign the Message Menu on WhatsApp Desktop and Mobile
WhatsApp has started rolling out a new update for Windows Native. With this update, users can now prevent messages from disappearing. This will prevent certain messages from disappearing so that if something is useful for users, they can save important messages or refer back to messages that have disappeared. There is also a redesigned message menu with a reaction bar.
How to Use Keep a Message
To use this feature, open the chat and select the message you want to keep from disappearing. Click on the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner, then select “Keep” within the message menu. Once this message is kept, it will remain in the chat even after the disappearing timer has expired.
- Open the chat with the message you want to keep, then long-press on the message.
- After this, tap on “Keep.”
- To return to the kept messages, tap on the chat info icon and then tap “Kept Messages” within a separate chat section. Users will be listed on the chat info screen if they decide to keep some messages from disappearing. Also, everyone in the conversation is still in control of those messages.
- If you want to unkeep a message, tap “Kept Messages,” long-press on the message that you wish to unkeep, and then tap “Unkeep.” They can use the “upkeep” action to restore the message’s ability to disappear. If your recipient later decides or you later decide that they don’t want you to have their address anymore, they can unkeep the message, and it will disappear from the chat.
Everyone in the chat controls those messages, whether or not they are kept from disappearing. In case users don’t want to keep a message from fading, as for the reaction bar, open the chat, select the message that you want to react to, click on the reaction bar at the bottom, and then select the emoji you want to use.
This feature is in beta and is expected to be stable for everyone in the coming weeks. To install the WhatsApp beta, head to the Microsoft Store to download and click the “Get” button to install the update.
Keep messages from disappearing on mobile.
This feature will be available on Android and iOS. The company is also releasing a new interface that looks more compact and has a context menu that is easier to use on Android. IOS inspires it and includes the bottom navigation bar. The new message is more compact and easier to use and consists of the following options:
- Copy
- Forward
- Share
- Info
- More
Within the “More” option, there are additional options, such as:
- Report
- Block
- Mute
- Star
- Pin
Several redesigns are planned for future updates. This feature is currently available in the beta version of WhatsApp, which users can download from the Google Play Store Beta Program. Thanks for being with us. We would like to know your valuable opinions and feedback. If you have any queries, share them with us in the comment section below. Stay tuned for more updates in the future.