• You can now require Face ID or Touch ID to unlock WhatsApp. Tap “Settings” > “Account” > “Privacy” and enable Screen Lock.

While WhatsApp makes use of the respected Signal Protocol to protect users’ comms via end-to-end encryption, the best encryption in the world can’t offer any protection if a person gains possession of your unlocked device as they can just open the app and read everything in plain text.

So the lack of a native lock option in WhatsApp has been a rather big security oversight. But one the messaging giant has at least now rectified on iOS.

Albeit the setting is not enabled by default — and is a bit buried in the menus — so less security savvy users are unlikely to realize it’s there.

There’s also still no native option in WhatsApp to add any kind of passcode to the app. Which would offer a universal ‘extra security’ option that could work across Android and iOS. (Presumably WhatsApp’s parent Facebook isn’t a fan of the added ‘friction’ such a setting could bring.)

Although various third party apps can be downloaded and used to require a passcode before other apps can be opened, a native passcode option would increase accessibility and shrink potential security concerns about using third party downloads for what should really be a core function.