Chat lock
WhatsApp’s more innovative and marquee privacy feature of 2023.
-
Content positioning, naming, localization and full end-to-end flows for V1-V3 projects as the lead content designer.
-
V1: iOS/Android features launched in 2023. Iterations over the next year added V2-V3, which expanded feature to linked devices and improved security updates.
-
Working on a project that allows users ultimate chat privacy when having to share their phones.
This started as an innovative new privacy feature to compete with Telegram and expanded over several years of iteration to include multiple device types, security updates and even a secret code.Chat lock: A new privacy feature that lets users hide and lock their most personal chats from anyone with physical access to their phone.
The problem: More than 80% of WhatsApp users share their phone with household members, which compromises the privacy of their most personal chats.
Tl;dr:
I led all content positioning and framing for chat lock V1-V3 projects as the lead content designer. I worked with multiple designers over 2 years to iterate and expand the security of this feature.
Naming this innovative feature was exciting and included a thorough process I highlighted in my Button Talk in 2024!
Overall scope:
-WhatsApp consumer app
-iOS, Android, web and linked devices
Naming/terminology
All chat lock flows including onboarding new users, privacy settings and chat termination flows.
Auditing competitor apps with similar features
Localization
Positioning/value prop messaging
Linked devices
Error handling
User research prep and analyzation
Marketing input
Legal disclosures
Help center articles
Results:
-Feature grew from tens of millions to nearly a hundred million daily active users within one year.
-Substantial lift in feature adoption and engagement after content updates shipped.
-Resolved the top user support issue by adding alternative setup paths.