Your WhatsApp messages will soon be even more secure. You will need biometric authentication to open them when you connect to a browser or the desktop app.

WhatsApp said that a new update to its web and desktop apps will now require users to unlock access to their accounts using biometric security systems already set up on their phones. This means that anyone with TouchID, FaceID or other Android alternatives will have to use them when connecting to other WhatsApp apps.

"Biometric scans, including fingerprints, are often better than passwords for authentication. No one else has your fingerprints and the user doesn't have to remember anything," Paul Bischoff, a privacy advocate at Comparitech, told Lifewire via email.

"WhatsApp's new feature is specifically required for syncing conversations with the desktop or web versions of WhatsApp," he added. "Before this update, the user had to scan a QR code to sync messages, but that left messages vulnerable to anyone with physical access to the user's phone."