14 DAY TRIAL // The development team of WhatsApp is preparing several major improvements for the instant messaging app on iPhones, including a dark theme that was discovered in the most recent release.
But as a new report from WABetaInfo notes, this isn’t the only thing coming to Apple users, as the company is also working on support for Touch ID and Face ID.
In case you’re wondering why you’d need these features to work with WhatsApp, it’s because the messaging app would thus allow you to lock your conversations, technically making it impossible for anyone to see your chats.
Just like when trying to unlock an iPhone, if scanning your finger or your face fails, WhatsApp prompts you to provide your password to get access to the application.
Feature already available in Telegram
Locking the messaging app is a feature that has been around for a long time on Telegram, often deemed the most popular alternative to WhatsApp, and it also exists in the Android version of the client.
For the time being, it looks like WhatsApp’s main focus is on bringing it to iPhones, with an ETA for Android phones not yet disclosed. The cited source, however, says that this update is still in its early days on the iPhone as well, so it could take longer than anticipated before it makes its debut.
Most likely, all the improvements that WhatsApp is currently testing for iPhones will land on Android as well at some point in the future, but for the time being, it’s pretty clear that the Apple ecosystem is favored over Google’s, despite the smaller market share.
In the meantime, you can try out the latest WhatsApp version, which comes with new contextual menus within conversations and paves the way for the dark theme that may land rather sooner than later.