WHATSAPP users are being urged to change their settings – don’t wait to boost your privacy.
There are some simple tweaks you can make to instantly make your WhatsApp more secure.
One simple trick adds a special lock on your WhatsApp app[/caption]
Even if you rarely use WhatsApp, it’s still important to keep the app private.
Now TikTok star and tech whiz @letsdodiz has shared some simple WhatsApp hacks to keep you safe.
Lock your WhatsApp app
Did you know that it’s possible to put a secondary lock on WhatsApp?
Read more on WhatsApp
That means even if you’ve unlocked your iPhone for somebody to use, you can prevent a person from viewing your WhatsApp messages.
All you need to do is set up an extra Face ID or Touch ID setting.
To set this up you need to head to your WhatsApp settings.
Then click “Account” and then “Privacy”.
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From here, you can switch on “Screen Lock” with either Touch ID or Face ID.
You’ll also be able to pick a duration time for when the ID is required again.
Now whenever you go to open the app, it’ll ask you for your prints or a picture of your face to check it’s really you reading your private chats.
You can still read and quick reply to messages in your notification window, so the tool isn’t foolproof.
You’ll also be able to answer WhatsApp calls.
You can always disable all message previews in your iPhone settings.
Change your Last Seen
Another good trick is to make sure people don’t know when you last used WhatsApp.
Otherwise anyone with your phone number can see when you were last on WhatsApp.
You can currently turn off WhatsApp Last Seen via your Settings menu but you only have the option to turn it off for everyone or all your contacts, not specific people.
The feature is available in the Privacy section of your WhatsApp settings.
Consider setting the feature to Nobody, or very specific trusted contacts.
WhatsApp is upgrading this feature soon with the ability to hide your online status.
Disappearing Messages
For years, WhatsApp messages were permanent: even if you deleted it, everyone else could still see them.
Then WhatsApp allowed you to “unsend” texts within a certain period of time – deleting them for you and all recipients.
Finally earlier this year, WhatsApp rolled out a new feature that automatically “unsends” messages.
This is important, because it means that some texts sent to you won’t stick around.
And if you activate it then your own texts will vanish too.
It’s an important privacy feature that you should consider turning on.
And if you don’t activate it, be aware that texts sent to you can still be “unsent”.
So how to do you activate WhatsApp disappearing messages today?
Open your app on mobile and then go into Settings > Account > Privacy.
Look for Disappearing Messages and then set the toggle to the On position.
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Then choose a time period for messages to disappear – 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days.
You can also activate it by going into a specific chat and tapping on the person’s name, then going into Disappearing Messages.
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