- WhatsApp allows users to connect their phones to web and desktop applications using biometrics.
- This means that you can now log in using face, fingerprint or iris scans, depending on the device you have.
- WhatsApp said that all data is processed by a phone’s operating system, so it doesn’t see any of that.
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WhatsApp is adding features to its web application to allow users to subscribe by scanning their face, fingerprint or eye.
WhatsApp announced the new feature on Thursday, which it described as an extra layer of security for its WhatsApp Web and Desktop services.
At the moment, to use WhatsApp Web or Desktop, users need to link it to their phone bill by scanning a QR code. This new feature would add biometric login to compatible devices as an optional extra layer of security.
WhatsApp said that on Apple devices with iOS14, users will be able to use Touch ID or Face ID. Android phones will be able to use face unlock, fingerprint unlock or iris unlock.
The announcement comes at a sensitive time for WhatsApp, which is still recovering from a major reaction to user privacy due to a new set of terms and conditions it sent earlier this month.
“WhatsApp does not see your face or fingerprint data,” the company said in its statement announcing the new biometric login feature. In a FAQ, the company states that because the user’s device handles biometric information, WhatsApp does not have access to the data.
“Authentication is controlled by your device’s operating system using the biometrics stored there. WhatsApp cannot access the biometric information stored by your device’s operating system, ”he said.
“If they use the standard APIs [Application Programming Interfaces] for biometrics, all of this can be done in a way that shouldn’t raise red flags, “Eerke Boiten, a professor of cybersecurity at De Montfort University, told Insider.
“The best practice is analyzed and encrypted (meaning it cannot be reversed) and stored on the user’s device, and I hope that all standard biometric APIs on phones do just that. The link that WhatsApp insists between the phone and WhatsApp Web are then essential, because the phone contains the registered biometric image that is being verified, and not a central server, ”he added.
Dr. Catherine Flick, a computer scientist and privacy expert at De Montfort, agreed with Boiten that the announcement did not sound an alarm.
“If it’s facial recognition / etc. Embedded, this is normal and normal with the phone’s operating systems (and it’s nice to have a second level of privacy, even if the phone is unlocked),” she said.
The addition of biometric scanning is not the last feature that WhatsApp plans to add this year, as it told TechCrunch that it is planning to expand with more features for WhatsApp web and desktop.