WhatsApp for Android gets fingerprint unlock: Here's how you can enable it

WhatsApp on Thursday rolled out a new biometric authentication feature for Android. The company has introduced fingerprint unlock for its Android application. Notably, the feature has made its way to WhatsApp’s Android app, months after its availability on iOS.

Fingerprint unlock on WhatsApp for Android works like the Touch ID mechanism on iPhone. Users can use their fingerprints as an authentication tool to open the messaging app. WhatsApp also allows users to choose the time after which the app would automatically get locked when not being used. If not immediately, users can set a time interval that ranges between a minute to 30 minutes.

Here is how users can set up fingerprint unlock for WhatsApp on Android:

1. Go to WhatsApp Settings2. Tap on Accounts> Privacy

3. Tap on Fingerprint lock and enable the ‘unlock with fingerprint’ toggle.

4. After enabling fingerprint unlock, select one of the three available time interval options to lock the app automatically.

Users can also choose to hide the message text and the sender’s name in the notification preview. To do so, tap on the ‘show content in notifications’ toggle to enable.

WhatsApp for iPhone allows users to unlock the app using Face ID on iPhone X and later. Face Unlock feature is yet to make its way on the Android app.