Turn chat lock on or off

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You can lock chats to add an extra layer of privacy to your chats. Locked chats are hidden in a folder behind an extra layer of authentication. To open locked chats on Whatsapp Web, you must create a secret code on your Android or iPhone.
  • Notifications for locked chats hide content and contact information.
  • Notifications for locked chats appear as “WhatsApp: 1 new message.”
  • Depending on language, the feature may appear as Chat lock or Chat block.

Turn chat lock on or off

You can lock any chat, including group chats and muted chats. If you haven’t set up a secret code on your primary phone, you’ll be prompted to create one before you can lock chats.
To lock and unlock chats:
  1. Right click the chat.
  2. Click Lock chat or Unlock chat.
When you lock a chat, the other people in the chat aren’t notified. Locked chats are closed when you lock your device.
Note:
  • 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.

View your locked chats

  1. Click Locked chats.
  2. Enter your secret code.
  3. Click Continue.
If you’ve hidden your locked chats, click Search, type your secret code, and click Locked chats.
Note: To hide or unhide chats, you must update your locked chats settings on your Android or iPhone.

Create a secret code

You can secure your locked chats with a secret code, separate from your phone passcode. However, you must create your secret code on your Android or iPhone.

Unlock and clear locked chats

If you hide your locked chats and forget your secret code, you can recover your hidden chats by unlocking and clearing your locked chats.
If you unlock and clear locked chats, your secret code will be cleared and all of your locked chats will be returned to your chat list. However, this will also clear all messages, photos, and videos in locked chats.
To unlock and clear locked chats, you use your Android or iPhone.
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.