WhatsApp makes logging in on desktop more secure

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By Ashish Mitra --
Thursday, 28 Jan, 2021

Instant messaging app WhatsApp has decided to make logging in on WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp’s Desktop’s app more secure by leveraging the biometric security in smartphones.

In an announcement, the Facebook-owned platform announced that the platform is beginning the roll out of the security feature that would need users to use face or fingerprint ID on their smartphones when trying to link their device with WhatsApp on the Web or on the desktop app. This means that to access their WhatsApp chats on either of these platforms, users would have to authenticate the linking with the help of their biometrics.

The feature would be rolled out in the next few days and would be automatically activated on all Android devices which support biometric unlocking. Apart from this, all iPhones running on iOS 14 or later OS versions and having Face or Touch ID unlocking feature would also automatically get this update.

On devices having biometric unlocking, users would have to disable this unlocking feature for their entire device to escape this updated security feature, otherwise this would remain a mandatory feature. On the other hand, users having mobile devices which do not support biometric authentication would be able to log into the Web and Desktop versions of WhatsApp as usual.

However, surrounded by controversy and criticism, the company has clarified that the biometric data of the users would not be accessible to either WhatsApp or Facebook.

It is noteworthy that this feature would remain similar to fingerprint/Touch ID or Face ID unlocking in apps like Google Pay or several bank apps and just like the biometric data from those apps does not get transferred to Google or the banks hosting the apps, the biometric data used to unlock WhatsApp Web/Desktop linking would also not be transferred to WhatsApp or Facebook.

WhatsApp makes logging in on desktop more secure. Instant messaging app WhatsApp has decided to make logging in on WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp’s Desktop’s app more secure by leveraging the biometric security in smartphones.

In an announcement, the Facebook-owned platform announced that the platform is beginning the roll out of the security feature that would need users to use face or fingerprint ID on their smartphones when trying to link their device with WhatsApp on the Web or on the desktop app. This means that to access their WhatsApp chats on either of these platforms, users would have to authenticate the linking with the help of their biometrics.

The feature would be rolled out in the next few days and would be automatically activated on all Android devices which support biometric unlocking. Apart from this, all iPhones running on iOS 14 or later OS versions and having Face or Touch ID unlocking feature would also automatically get this update.

On devices having biometric unlocking, users would have to disable this unlocking feature for their entire device to escape this updated security feature, otherwise this would remain a mandatory feature. On the other hand, users having mobile devices which do not support biometric authentication would be able to log into the Web and Desktop versions of WhatsApp as usual.

However, surrounded by controversy and criticism, the company has clarified that the biometric data of the users would not be accessible to either WhatsApp or Facebook.

It is noteworthy that this feature would remain similar to fingerprint/Touch ID or Face ID unlocking in apps like <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/tag/google/" target="_blank">Google</a> Pay or several bank apps and just like the biometric data from those apps does not get transferred to Google or the banks hosting the apps, the biometric data used to unlock WhatsApp Web/Desktop linking would also not be transferred to WhatsApp or Facebook.