In the news today, WhatsApp announced the support for Biometric authentication for logging in to your WhatsApp desktop or web. The scans consist of biometric measures like fingerprints, face scanning and iris scanning. This will work in conjunction with the already present QR code and aims to provide better security for your WhatsApp data in case of a data breach from your phone or computer.
The new update comes ready for iOS 14 devices with Face ID or Touch ID. While Android users will get it if their phone supports any kind of biometric authentication. People without any biometric authentication support will continue to use the QR code system.
As for being in a tragic fiasco of chats coming up on the google search, WhatsApp says that they won’t store any biometric data and it is completely secure. They also mention this feature as a breach proof in case someone else gets access to your phone and decides to steal your data just by logging into the web platform or the desktop app just using the QR code.
They also added payment options for everyone including the Indian market where it has the most number of users after getting in to a conclusion with Indian Government and WhatsApp using their API payment system for goods and services and are also planning to offer insurance and pension schemes in the market.
The official release statement from WhatsApp states:
“This will limit the chance that a housemate or officemate (when we have those again) can link devices to your WhatsApp account without you. This builds on our existing security measures today, which pop up a notice in your phone whenever a Web/Desktop login occurs, and the ability to unlink devices from your phone at any time”
As it stands now after the fiasco, WhatsApp also states that they are not storing any data that has been the whole thing with them recently after the new privacy policy update and they also promise users with more features which adds security to your account both in cloud and locally on your phone. WhatsApp promises that they are going to come up with exciting new features and add ons in the future updates this year.
All in all, WhatsApp’s sole priority is assuring safety and stop the users bleeding away from their platform to other counterparts like Signal and Telegram.