Don’t want prying eyes to fall on one of your confidential conversations in WhatsApp? A little trick allows you to hide it temporarily and quickly, without deleting it.
Like any messaging system, WhatsApp can host confidential content. And whether professional or personal, some discussions must remain strictly private. The problem is that, by default, all your current conversations are displayed in reverse chronological order – from the most recent to the oldest – as soon as you open the application. And a person nearby can, with a simple glance, see who you are chatting with, which can be annoying in certain situations…
Fortunately, there is a very simple way to temporarily hide discussions without deleting them, to avoid indiscretions: it is indeed enough to archive conversations. Admittedly, this method, which works on both Android and iOS, is not an absolute guarantee of confidentiality. As you will see, it is very easy to consult an archived conversation and anyone who has access to your phone for a few seconds can easily find what you have hidden. But it is very easy to implement and will at least protect you from too curious furtive glances, in transport or at the office, for example.
How to archive a chat in WhatsApp?
WhatsApp does not offer a hide feature. But it is very easy to hide a conversation by archiving it.
- On your mobile, open the WhatsApp application and go to the tab Disc. if it is not displayed immediately.
- In the list of current discussions, press for more than one second on the conversation you want to hide to select it.
- A notch appears on the photo of your correspondent, to show that the discussion is selected.
- In the function strip, at the top of the screen, press square icon with an arrow, just to the left of the three small dots. The selected discussion immediately disappears from the list: it is now stored in the archived discussions.
- Repeat the operation with the other conversations you want to hide. You can also do everything at once, by selecting several discussions before pressing the archive icon.
How to restore an archived chat in WhatsApp?
The hidden chat has not been deleted from your mobile: it is just moved to the WhatsApp archived chats folder. And you can make it reappear in the current conversation list very easily.
- Open the WhatsApp application, go to the tab Disc. and scroll down the list, after the last discussion until you see the mention Archived. Depending on the version of WhatsApp used, this mention can also be at the top of the list of conversations.
- Press the mention Archived (X) – X indicating the number of archived discussions.
- The list of archived chats is displayed. You can consult them normally, by opening them individually.
- In the list, press for more than one second on the conversation that you want to reappear. Again, a notch indicates that the conversation is selected.
- In the function strip, at the top of the screen, press square icon with an arrow – the arrow is in the other direction this time. The selected discussion immediately disappears from the archives and reappears in the list of current discussions. Do the same with any chats you want to restore.
