WhatsApp perfect cheating feature

[DonnyBurrito]

I've mentioned this on a different thread, as the OP (with a cheating husband) had suggested that his WhatsApp was easier to check for ilicit messages than Snapchat, because SC has disappearing messages (although WhatsApp also has this feature, it's just very conspicuous and takes a bit longer for them to disappear I think).
But WhatsApp has an even better feature than disappearing messages for cheaters called 'Chat lock'. I told my fairly tech savvy friend about this recently and she was shocked when I showed her how it worked, and she didn't know about it at all. I'm wondering how many other radars it's gone under.

Chat lock can create a secret folder for messages which is not visible in the app anywhere at all, and whether the feature is being used or not is not shown either. It is password protected or biometrics. You type the password into the search bar at the top of WhatsApp and a little icon with a lock appears, it unclicks, and you tap on it to enter the secret folder.

As I say, there's no way of knowing whether this feature is being used if it's been hidden, and if you try to change the password in the settings to get into the folder, then all the chats get deleted anyway. The only way to make the folder appear is by knowing the password... Which, if the user is clever, will be a long string/pattern of every day emojis that won't look out of place in the recently used emojis.

The only way I've figured to see if the features being used is if the contact that's been hidden is saved in the phone. If you go to the phones contacts, find the contact you're suspicious about, and click 'message on WhatsApp' - it will show that the chat is locked and will ask for a password. So you could get proof that something is being hidden between two people, just not exactly what it is. That only works for numbers that are saved, though.

Anyways, have a look for yourselves if you don't know about it, you'll find it in WhatsApp settings.

There will be some reading this thinking well done mega mouth for sharing this 🙈

Yes this, I used it to maintain support from friends and family while planning to secretly leave an EA relationship. Was a total godsend!

Thanks OP. You've had a load of 'so what, cheaters will cheat' replies but I for one find it useful to know that this sort of capability exists on a very mainstream app. And I didn't know anything about it. So thank you.

Honestly, I'm actually impressed with the feature and think it's worth talking about. There are clearly people out there that could really do with knowing about it so they can have a degree of privacy from abusive partners, and by properly investigating any potential loopholes (such as saved contacts clearly showing that they have been locked, but not unsaved numbers) and telling people about being able to fully hide the locked chats folder, then the people who really need it can cover their backs. Or, people who want to sext their coworkers or whatever can do so more easily... But according to this thread, they'd be doing it without this feature anyway.

Not seeing the problem.

Thanks for this. I had no idea about this feature. I hope it does help people in abusive situations and not just those who are looking to cheat.

I had no idea until this thread it would be useful for people in those situations. I did mainly post to help people who have a suspicion of cheating but can't find the evidence anywhere. But if someone using it has a strong and unique password, the hidden contact isn't saved in their phone, and the folder itself is properly hidden... I would say it's pretty much bombproof. People can use that info however they need, I guess!

Sounds like an excellent feature. Especially with the number of partners that just happen to snoop on their partners phones.

Why don't you just leave if you're feeling this way?

Genuine question. If you're unhappy and you would cheat if you weren't caught, why don't you just end it and do whatever you want then?

Are you not just giving a blueprint to how to get away with cheating to people who cheat?

Not wrong, even if it puts them at risk of STDs?
Because condoms don't protect against everything

I think that's about as "wrong" as it is possible to be.

Well yes. The STI itself is a risk anyone who engages in non-monogamous sex risks, like swingers. But given that we're not swingers, DP getting an STI would be a fairly good indication that I was cheating. Which would hurt her, which as I said, I won't do.

STIs are pretty much reason no.1 why I state that you can never guarantee that your partner won't find out. Even if you're half way around the planet shagging someone with no common ties, you still can't know whether they have an STI. And condoms aren't perfect. There is no way to commit the perfect crime when it comes to cheating.

And to @SirRaymondClench , what makes you think I'm not happy? I'm very happy. Would I enjoy having sex with other people occasionally? Yes, but thats the price I have to pay to be with DP, then it's a very small one indeed.

Although you obviously wouldn’t be able to see the messages, if you were suspicious of your partner using this feature you could always go on their settings and look at the screen time section and find out how much time per day/which hours of the day they spend on watsapp.
If they rarely use watsapp to message yet they are racking up hours a day on there, especially at peak times when they’re out of the house that’s a dead giveaway

I'm just telling people that an extremely strong privacy feature exists on an extremely popular app. I didn't design it, and I didn't post this directly on a forum specifically for cheaters. People can use information however they like. Knowledge is power.

👌🏻 thank you.

People have cheated for millenia. Having apps etc... doesnt make a blind bit of difference. Cheaters gonna cheat!

Yes battery use is a big giveaway

Blame the cheater, not the tool.

There are lots of perfectly legitimate reasons why this function is useful to non cheaters.

Its like blaming hotels for making it easy for cheaters to have a bed for sex.

Well I found it interesting as I didn't know it was possible so thanks OP .

If you have to open your partners WhatsApp to see the sort of messages they’re sending, it doesn’t actually matter if they’re cheating - that’s not a healthy relationship and you should leave.

I doubt my partner would even bother hiding the WhatsApp thread with his mistress, it’d be that unlikely that I’d find it.

Thank you OP this is interesting, I don't know why some people are having a go at you.

@VimesandhisCardboardBoots I'm sure if they were honest a lot of people would like to have sex with other people outside their relationship. For me it wouldn't be the fear of getting caught and hurting my partner that stopped me it would be the guilt that I was betraying them, I wouldn't be able to live with myself, does this not factor for you at all?

No, I don't think it would. I think people either have a very ingrained sense of monogamy or not, based on how closely they tie love and sex in together. DP for instance, had a couple of one night stands in her early 20s, but very quickly decided that she wasn't interested is sex with anyone she wasn't in a relationship with. So if she had sex with someone else now, she'd feel like she'd betrayed me, because it'd be all tied up in feelings.

For me however, sex is just an activity. I wouldn't feel any more guilty about having sex with someone else than I would about playing badminton with them. So no, the guilt wouldn't be about the fact I'd had sex with someone else, it would be about the fact that doing so has the potential to upset DP.

No, it doesn’t always show. You can hide them from this list. I have some locked chats, I use an emoji for the passcode. You have to put the password/passcode in the search bar for the locked chats to appear.

Also…there is a way to find out if locked chats are being used. Go into settings and “clear locked chats”.

The phone numbers then appear in the main chat lists but the messages will be gone. So you’ll never see the messages but you’ll know they’ve been locked chats.

Also, until the latest update messages in locked chats would appear as a number in “unread messages”. This seems to have stopped now after the latest update.

No, it doesn’t always show- you can hide this - I do!

Well, it’s hardly a secret; it’s a well known WhatsApp feature and has been there for some time! 😂

Yes, and this is something that as far as I’m aware can’t be hidden. Also, look at the amount of “pick ups” and the first app opened after pick up. This is also a good clue if you’re the snooping kind (not me, I’m too lazy).