WhatsApp received a frosty reception after it tried to force Facebook integration on the userbase earlier this year. The company is still pressing ahead with important security upgrade on paper as it is bringing biometric authentication on WhatsApp Desktop and Web. The company unveiled that biometric authentication will be done while linking devices to your account through the QR code.
A press release stated that to link WhatsApp Web or Desktop to the WhatsApp account, we will be now asked to use the face or fingerprint unlock of our phone before scanning the QR code from the phone to link our device. It can be said that there is no option for use of only biometric authentication for scanning a code. WhatsApp says that the move will decrease the chance of housemates or colleagues linking a device to our account without our knowledge.
For getting this started, we just have to follow these instructions –
- Tap Settings Icon > WhatsApp Web.
- Click the plus icon and follow the instructions if the phone supports biometric authentication.
- Select the “keep me signed in” option at the QR code page of our computer if we want to stay logged in.
- Scan the QR code shown on our computer with our phone camera.
The company says that biometric authentication takes place on the smartphone and so WhatsApp cannot access this biometric information in the first place. WhatsApp says that this particular feature and a redesign of WhatsApp Web for phones will be released in the upcoming few weeks. So, we may just have to wait sometime before seeing it on our devices.