Linking your WhatsApp account to your computer’s web browser or desktop app is getting a little more secure. Soon, if you’ve got biometric authentication enabled on your phone, you’ll have to unlock the app before you can link your account.
The company says the new system is intended to ensure that should someone else gain access to your phone, they won’t be able to link your account to their web browser (which, in turn, would allow them to see any messages you send or receive).
The new system will be enabled by default on any iPhone devices running iOS 14 with either Touch ID or Face ID, and any Android devices that have biometric authentication enabled. That means users will have to use it to link their accounts unless they disable biometric authentication for their entire device. Users who don’t have a biometric authentication setup on their phone (or have it turned off) will be able to link their account as usual.
As long as the phone you’re using has face or fingerprint unlock switched on, WhatsApp will ask you to go through the authentication process when you link your account to the service’s desktop app or web version.
WhatsApp’s new security feature will work alongside another, which send your phone notifications whenever somebody logs into your account on the web or a computer.
WhatsApp says that the new update should be rolling out for compatible devices in the coming weeks.