 |
WhatsApp is introducing a new biometric feature to confirm your identity when you want to connect your WhatsApp account to a PC or the site.
For its mobile and tablet applications, the social media app is rolling out this new functionality, which will allow individuals to create an additional authentication layer using biometrics when they choose to use WhatsApp on the desktop or web.
Users will now have the option (not a requirement) to add a biometric login that, depending on the device on Android or iPhone, uses either a fingerprint, face ID, or iris ID to add to a biometric login that add in the second authentication layer.
It will appear for users when introduced before a desktop or web version can be connected to a mobile app account.
In order to put the functionality of the two closer together, WhatsApp said it would add more features this year. There are still big gaps: you can't make calls on the Web edition of WhatsApp, for instance.
To be specific, the biometric service that is being activated globally will be opted-in: users will need to go to their settings to trigger the function in the same way that they need to go to their settings today to activate their mobile apps' biometric authentication.
WhatsApp further added that the biometric information that you store on your phone will be inaccessible and that it uses the same standard biometric authentication APIs that other secure applications, such as banking apps, use.
WhatsApp will ask you to go through the authentication process as long as the phone you are using has face or fingerprint unlock allowed, when you connect your account to the desktop app or web version of both the service.
After your identity is checked by the service, you will then have to search your phone for a QR code. By default, the latest biometric authentication function is active, and the only way not to activate it when your account is connected is to turn the face or fingerprint unlock fully off.
WhatsApp, which is said to soon launch an updated privacy policy that will enable Facebook exchange data, says it will not have access to your biometrics at all and will perform the authentication process via the OS of your phone.
The new security feature of WhatsApp will work alongside another, which sends alerts to your phone anytime anyone logs into your web or computer account. The company also appears to be working on more features for its non-phone applications, announcing in its announcement that this year it "is going to add a lot more functionality to its Mac and Windows apps, as well as the Web."
You will recall that after it revealed that it will now share the personal details of its users, including phone numbers, IP addresses, contacts, and more with Facebook from February 8, 2021, the company had recently received several backlashes.
With the latest privacy policy, Whatsapp has reportedly prompted several users to leave the app in search of Signal and Telegram alternatives.
No comments:
Post a Comment