Lock a chat with a secret code

Locked chats move out of your main list into a protected section that needs your code to open — so handing someone your unlocked phone doesn't hand them everything.

Lock a chat

1. Open the chat's ⋮ menu and choose Lock chat.
2. Set your code the first time you use it.

Locked chats stop showing message previews in notifications.

Hide them completely

Under Settings → Privacy → Private chats you can turn on a secret code and hide the locked section entirely. With it hidden, there is no visible trace of those chats at all: you reveal them by typing your secret code into the chat search box.

If you forget the code

Nobody can recover it for you — that's what makes it safe. You can reset it from Private chats settings, which unlocks and reveals those chats again.