WhatsApp adds fingerprint unlocking to Android app
In February, WhatsApp released a Screen Lock feature for iOS devices. When enabled, the app prompts you to authenticate using Touch ID that it’s in fact you entering it every time. Now, several months later, the same thing is coming to Android. At the moment though, the feature is only a part of the latest WhatsApp beta.
WhatsApp version 2.19.221 has entered public beta. If you have the build, you can go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Fingerprint lock to enable the new feature. After you turn it on, you’ll need to use your fingerprint to authenticate each time you want to launch the app. You can still answer calls if WhatsApp is locked.
You can also set a timer for the automatic lock. It can be set ton immediately lock the phone, after 1 minute, or after 30 minutes. So if you choose anything but “immediately”, you get the chosen amount of time to use WhatsApp after you’ve once unlocked it. During that time, the app stays ‘unlocked’ and won’t require a fingerprint again. Finally, in the same section of Settings you also get a toggle for showing message contents and the sender in notifications. If you use the WhatsApp widget and enable Fingerprint Lock, the widget won’t show anything, because the content is hidden by default.
As WhatsApp is using official Android biometric authentication APIs, you can be sure that your fingerprint data won’t be sent to Facebook or even Google for that matter, the fingerprint data is securely stored locally on your phone.
We still don’t know when exactly this feature will go live. We do hope that it happens soon as it’d be nice to see the feature on both iOS and Android devices.