Learn how to protect WhatsApp chats on your iPhone to block anyone from reading your messages or remove Face ID, Touch ID, or password lock.
A strong passcode secures your iPhone unless you hand it unlocked to someone, in which case they can easily launch WhatsApp and take a peek at your conversations.
With little effort, however, you can boost your messaging privacy significantly by locking your chats on WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business behind Face ID, Touch ID, device passcode, or a custom secret code, and we show you how.
Using the native app lock feature in iOS
With iOS 18 or later, you can easily lock and hide apps on your iPhone. You can leverage this feature to protect your WhatsApp chats from unsolicited access.
To do so, touch and hold the WhatsApp icon on your Home Screen and choose Require Face ID > Require Face ID. This will prevent anyone, yourself included, from launching WhatsApp without passing a Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode authentication. There are some consequences to locking apps, however, as discussed in our separate article.
Use WhatsApp’s own lock to secure the app
WhatsApp has a built-in security feature to lock the app and secure all your chats. This is a great option in case your iPhone is running an older version of iOS or you don’t want to use iOS’s native app-locking feature.
- Open WhatsApp on your iPhone and select the Settings tab.
- Tap Privacy.
- Scroll down and tap App lock or Screen Lock.
- Turn on Require Face ID or Touch ID.
“Immediately” is selected by default. The setting tells WhatsApp to lock itself as soon as you exit it. As a result, you’ll have to authenticate with facial recognition or your fingerprint every time you re-open the app. Otherwise, you can set the WhatsApp lock timer to one minute, 15 minutes, or one hour.
Protect WhatsApp from people who know your iPhone passcode or are added to Face ID/Touch ID
Maybe you’ve shared your iPhone passcode with someone like a family member or enrolled your partner’s fingerprint or added their face. My next tip will prevent those people from getting into WhatsApp and seeing your chats so long as you haven’t enrolled their fingerprint/face and shared your passcode with them.
If a person has your iPhone passcode but isn’t enrolled in Face or Touch ID
In this scenario, enabling WhatsApp’s built-in lock will prevent anyoneknowing your passcode from getting inside WhatsApp, but there are some caveats. If facial recognition or fingerprint scan fails repeatedly (five times in my testing), the app will show the option to try Face or Touch ID again. And after that fails, WhatsApp will ask to enter passcode. At this point, the person who knows your iPhone passcode can simply enter it to open WhatsApp. So, this isn’t full security, but bear with me…
Trying Face or Touch ID repeatedly is annoying and may even scare an intruder unless they’ve known your passcode for a long time and aren’t deterred by multiple Face or Touch ID fails. However, the person who knows your passcode can enroll their own fingerprint or face in the Settings app to unlock your phone unless you’ve set up the Stolen Device Protection feature.
If a person doesn’t have your iPhone passcode but is enrolled in Face or Touch ID
In that’s the case, you can make WhatsApp open with your iPhone passcode instead of Face or Touch ID.
- First, enable app lock in WhatsApp’s privacy settings.
- Next, withdraw permission for WhatsApp to use Face ID in Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Other Apps by turning off the switch for WhatsApp.
Now anyone trying to open WhatsApp will be prompted to enter your iPhone’s passcode as the app no longer has permission for biometric authentication.
Lock only specific WhatsApp chats
WhatsApp also lets you lock particular conversations using Face ID and a secret key. This is a convenient option if you don’t want to authenticate every time you open the app whilst keeping your sensitive chats protected from prying eyes.
- Open WhatsApp and swipe left on the conversation you want to lock.
- Tap More and select Lock chat > Continue (left image below). Or, go to a person’s profile page and turn on the Lock Chat switch (right image below).
You can access these chats in the Locked Chats section, revealed upon swiping down on the Chats screen and authenticating with Face or Touch ID. If biometric authentication fails, you’ll be prompted to enter your iPhone’s passcode.
For additional layer of privacy, set up a secret code for locked chats to avoid entering device passcode after Face or Touch ID fails. A secret key keeps your private chats safe from those who know your iPhone’s passcode so long as they’re not enrolled in Face or Touch ID on your device. To set up a Secret code, open your Locked chats section, and tap Settings in the top-right corner.
For extra privacy, turn on the Hide locked chats switch so that the Locked chats option isn’t revealed after swiping down on the Chats screen. Instead, you’ll need to type your secret code into WhatsApp’s search bar or find a locked chat manually by typing its title and authenticating with Face ID.
Disable Face ID for WhatsApp
If you don’t want to lock WhatsApp, follow these steps to turn off Face ID or Touch ID app lock, disable in-app lock, and unlock your locked chats.
Turn off iOS app lock for WhatsApp
- Touch and hold the icon for WhatsApp on the Home Screen and choose Don’t Require Face ID.
- Authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID to remove app lock.
If WhatsApp is hidden, follow these steps instead:
- Go to the App Library on the Home Screen and hit the Hidden section at the bottom.
- Touch and hold the WhatsApp app icon, then select Don’t Require Face ID.
Turn off the WhatsApp’s built-in app lock
If you’ve set up WhatsApp’s internal lock, you can turn it off by following these steps.
- Open WhatsApp and select the Settings tab.
- Tap Privacy.
- Select App Lock.
- Turn off Require Face ID.
Turn off individual WhatsApp chat lock
If you’ve locked WhatsApp chats, unlock them to turn off biometric authentication.
- Pull down on the Chats screen or type your secret code in the search field to reveal your locked chats.
- Swipe left on a chat and choose More > Unlock chat.
- Repeat the previous step to unlock your other locked chats.
On a related note: How to lock your Telegram chats on iPhone, iPad, and Mac