New Security Features: Account Protect, Device Verification, Automatic Security Codes

At WhatsApp, we are committed to ensuring that your messages are as confidential and secure as face-to-face conversations. The cornerstone of this security is safeguarding your personal messages with default end-to-end encryption, and we will continuously develop new features to provide you with enhanced privacy and greater control over your messages.

Much of our efforts to enhance security occur behind the scenes, requiring no action on your part. Today, we are thrilled to share information about the supplementary security features we plan to implement in the upcoming months.

Account Protection: When you need to transfer your WhatsApp account to a new device, we want to ensure it's genuinely you making the change. As an extra security measure, we may now ask you to confirm this action on your previous device. This feature can help notify you if someone tries to move your account to another device without authorization.

Device Authentication: Mobile device malware poses a significant threat to people's privacy and security since it can exploit your phone without your consent and use your WhatsApp to send unwanted messages. To combat this, we have implemented checks that authenticate your account without any action required from you, providing better protection if your device is compromised. This allows you to continue using WhatsApp seamlessly. Learn more about the technology here.

Automated Security Codes: Security-conscious users have always had access to our security code verification feature, which ensures you are communicating with your intended recipient. This can be manually checked by visiting the encryption tab under a contact's information. To simplify this process and make it more accessible, we're introducing a feature based on "Key Transparency" that automatically verifies a secure connection. This means when you click on the encryption tab, you can instantly confirm that your private conversation is protected. For those curious about the underlying technology, click here.

These are three new ways we're working to enhance your account's security. While we can do many things to simplify security for everyone, there are two features that only you can activate: two-step verification and end-to-end encrypted backups. If you're already using both, please share this information with your friends so that more people can benefit from these added security layers.

We hope users appreciate the improved security provided by these features, and we look forward to announcing more updates in the near future.