How to lock and protect your WhatsApp data

Ever lent your phone to a friend or a family member so that they could send a quick text or look something up to only find them snooping around on your device? Personally, I’ve got a ton ofWhatsApp

 conversations with friends that I don’t necessarily want prying eyes to see, not for the fact that there is any risky content, but rather I value my privacy and some conversations are meant to be kept between the parties involved. Fortunately, if you have this issue or want to just make sure it doesn’t happen, there are a few applications available for Android that will help you protect your WhatsApp from curious onlookers.

The first application, Messenger and Chat Block, allows the user to add up a four digit PIN in order to block WhatsApp, among other applications. Despite the design of Messenger and Chat Block (be forewarned, there are a ton of advertisements littered around it), the app is quite functional and prevents photo, videos, or conversations from being accessed by someone without the proper PIN.

Besides WhatsApp, you can use this application to protect other services like BBM, WeChat, LINE, Viber, Facebook, SMS Messaging, Twitter, and more.

Messenger and Chat LockINSTALL

APPLICATION PAID OR FREE?	Free
ADVERTISING	Yes
INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED?	No
IN-APP PURCHASES	None
ANDROID VERSION	2.3 or higher

AppLock is another application that will help you out keeping your WhatsApp private. With a little bit more of nicer looking UI and no advertising, this makes it a little bit more appealing to most users. As with the previous app, this can be used with other applications as well and is very easy to configure and manage.

APPLICATION PAID OR FREE?	Free
ADVERTISING	None
INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED?	No
IN-APP PURCHASES	None
ANDROID VERSION	2.2 or higher

AppLockINSTALL

There are other options as well: If you’re running the latest build of CyanogenMod on your device,you can privacy protect apps or even folders without having to have any third party applications installed. If going the custom ROM route isn’t of your preference, you can also rely on the services of a tricky little app called Smart HideCalculator, which in itself is a fully functional calculator app but once you enter a pre-set password, you can access hidden media and documents. As well, if your phone is rooted you can also hide and unhide apps. 

Smart Hide CalculatorINSTALL

Finally, we showcased an article on How to Hide WhatsApp photos from your gallery last week which offers a step by step tutorial on how you can go ahead and make sure that those pictures and videos you're sharing on WhatsApp aren't showing up with the rest of your media on your device.