WhatsApp is one of the few apps which frequently rolls out beta updates for both it’s Android and iOS platforms. A recent WhatsApp beta (2.19.298) comes with a new splash screen with the WhatsApp logo while opening the app. There is also another update that brings self-destructing messages, orderly audio preview, and smart reply. Now, just like messenger and other Android apps, WhatsApp can be secured with the fingerprint (WhatsApp version 2.19.308). Among other things, users can set how fast they want the fingerprint request to activate. It can be immediately after the display closes, 1 minute or even 20 minutes.
Gizchina News of the week
In addition, this update comes with customized visibility of message notifications. With this, users can hide the contents of WhatsApp notifications. Furthermore, WhatsApp uses Android’s Biometric API to host all fingerprint scans and this information will not be shared with Facebook’s server.
The new settings can be found under Settings> Account> Privacy> Fingerprint lock. Please note that you will have to authenticate your fingerprint while enabling the feature. Furthermore, the roll-out of this update is staggered thus all users will not get it at the same time. It might take a week or two to reach all users. In addition, this update supports only devices on Android 6.0 Marshmallow or above.
