WhatsApp for Android could soon unlock via facial recognition

Using a fingerprint or your face to protect your phone is pretty much standard practice these days, but the problem is once your phone is unlocked, the rest of its contents are pretty much open to everyone. If you’d rather not take the chance that someone could go through your WhatsApp messages, you might be interested to learn that WhatsApp will soon gain the ability to protect your messages using facial recognition.

WhatsApp for Android currently offers users the ability to protect your messages using fingerprint security, but given that we’re seeing more Android smartphones implement a facial recognition system of their own, it doesn’t really come as a surprise to learn that WhatsApp will be leveraging this feature in a future update.

This development was spotted by WABetaInfo that typically reports on in-development features found in the APK or beta versions of WhatsApp, so it stands to reason that this feature could be coming in the next update or two. iOS users have previously enjoyed this feature so it’s good to see WhatsApp not neglect its Android users.

That being said, it should be noted that the strength of the facial recognition will depend on the system implemented by the smartphone manufacturer. So if your smartphone’s facial recognition system can be beaten using a photograph of you, then it might not be the best idea to use this feature, but at the least option is there.

Source: WABetaInfo