You can lock the entire WhatsApp app with Face ID on iPhone, and I want to do the same thing with iMessage – here’s why.
WhatsApp just added a new security feature called Secret Code. An evolution of the Chat Lock feature that lets you password-protect sensitive WhatsApp Chats, Secret Code will hide your locked chats from view in a secret folder. This one becomes available only when you enter your Secret Code. That’s a great privacy feature to have on messaging apps, especially on end-to-end encrypted apps like WhatsApp.
That’s not the feature I want Apple to steal for the iPhone’s iMessage app. WhatsApp also has another layer of security that lets you lock the entire app. You can protect it with Face ID (or the phone’s PIN), which is an extra layer of security that iMessage doesn’t have. I wouldn’t mind if iMessage allowed me to lock down the entire app behind Face ID.
You can lock WhatsApp with Face ID
The iPhone is encrypted the minute you set a password/PIN and set up Face ID or Touch ID. But if someone uses your device, or thieves steal it along with your password, all the data on it is fair game.
Some of the most sensitive apps on the iPhone are password-protected. Think mobile banking apps and any other apps that deal in finance. Unlike other apps where you log in once and then can use the app, these apps will always prompt a login. Banking apps will have their own passwords, but you can set up Face ID to access them.
WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger got support for Face ID protection. That is, you can lock the apps behind Face ID. In this case, your phone’s password or PIN would also unlock the chat apps.
