Turn chat lock on or off

Android
iOS
Web
Windows
You can lock chats to add an extra layer of privacy to your chats. Locked chats will be hidden from your chats list in the Locked Chats folder.
To read messages in a locked chat, you must unlock your chats using device authentication, such as your phone passcode, Face ID, fingerprint, or with a secret code of your choice. When chats are locked, notification content and contact information are hidden. Notifications show as “WhatsApp: 1 new message.”
Note: Depending on what language you're using in WhatsApp, the feature name may appear differently as either Chat lock or Chat block.

Turn chat lock on or off

You can turn chat lock on or off for any chat, including group chats and muted chats. If you don’t have device authentication turned on, you’ll be prompted to turn it on before locking a chat.
  1. Right click the chat.
  2. Click Lock Chat or Unlock Chat.
When you turn on chat lock, the other people in the chat are not notified.
To open locked chats on web, you must create a secret code on your primary phone.
Note:
  • You can’t save media from locked chats. To save media, you must turn chat lock off.
  • Calls from contacts in locked chats won’t be blocked.
  • If you backup and restore WhatsApp on a new phone, your locked chats will still be locked. To access your locked chats you must have device authentication set up.

Create a secret code

You can lock your chats with a secret code, separate from your phone passcode. However, you must create your secret code on your Android or iPhone.
To view chats locked by secret code:
  1. Click Locked chats.
  2. Enter your secret code.
  3. Click Continue.

View and hide locked chats

To view your locked chats, click
chatlock unlocked
.
Alternatively, you can hide the locked chats folder so it only appears when you enter your secret code. Learn how to hide your locked chats folder on Android and iPhone.
To view hidden locked chats:
  1. Click Search.
  2. Type your secret code.
  3. Click Locked chats.

Unlock and clear locked chats

You can unlock and clear all your locked chats at once. When you unlock and clear locked chats, they are wiped clear and returned to your chat list. This process deletes all messages and media in those chats. If you have a secret code, it will also be deleted.
To unlock and clear locked chats:
  1. Click
    settings
    > Privacy.
  2. Click Chat lock > Unlock and clear locked chats.
Note: You can restore cleared chats if your most recent backup happened before you cleared the chats. However, you can only restore messages and media sent before the backup.

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