Let’s make your digital chatting as safe as it can be.
WhatsApp only has one method of two-factor authentication, and it’s different from what we usually see.
Rather than texting you a random code or integrating with an authentication app to send you a different code each time you log in on a new device, WhatsApp has you create a custom PIN that you’ll enter.
Here’s what the process looks like.
- Open the WhatsApp app on your phone.
- Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner.
- Tap Settings
- Tap Account.
- Tap Two-step verification.
- Tap Enable.
- Enter your custom PIN.
- Re-enter your custom PIN.
- Tap Next.
- Enter your email address.
- Re-enter your email address.
- Tap Save.
- Tap Done.
Enjoy safer chatting
We wish WhatsApp’s two-factor authentication was more randomized similar to how 2FA works most everywhere else, but we’ll take what we can get.
You’ll want to make sure you can easily remember your PIN, but try not to make it something that could be easily guessed. In other words, try to be more creative than “123456.”
But what if you forget the passcode after setting it months ago?
For helping you remember your 2SV passcode, WhatsApp will periodically ask you to enter your passcode, and there is no option to opt out of this without disabling the 2SV feature.
For now, the feature is available only on WhatsApp beta version, and the company will start rolling out two-step verification with the release of a stable version for both the iOS and Android for over 1 Billion users in the coming weeks.
To enjoy two-step verification, you can sign up to become a beta tester and update to WhatsApp (Beta) version 2.16.346 straight from the Google Play Store.
Once signed up, your smartphone will be automatically updated to the WhatsApp Beta version in the next app update cycle.
