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WhatsApp Confirms the Bug in the New Authentication Feature on its iOS App

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Image Source: dignited.com

The data security has become the prime concern today and to maintain proper privacy, WhatsApp had rolled out a new biometric security feature for its iPhone app users, earlier this month. The security features made use of the Face Id and Touch Id to unlock WhatsApp, such that in the case of the unlocked phone screen, the users had to use the Face Id or the Touch Id to unlock WhatsApp.

But, a bug has been discovered in this new biometric feature that allows anyone to access WhatsApp, even the Face Id or the Touch Id is enabled for the app. This new feature was made available to the iOS users having WhatsApp version 2.19.20, and the bug was first reported on Reddit by a user named de_X_ter. Even WhatsApp has accepted that it is aware of the bug and is taking proper measures to fix it asap.

According to the Reddit post, the user can bypass the FaceId or the Touch Id security if the user selects any option other than “Immediately” for the Screen Lock under the WhatsApp Account’s Privacy Settings. The Screen Lock options other than “Immediately” are “After 1 minute”, “After 15 minutes”, and “After 1 hour”, which lets the users bypass the security using the WhatsApp share option on any other third-party application.

In reality, when the Screen Lock is enabled for the WhatsApp account, and the user tries to use the WhatsApp share option using other apps, a Face ID or Touch Id authentication must appear on the screen every single time. But due to the bug, the Screen Lock is not working the way it should. If we use the same share feature when the “Immediately” option for the Screen Lock is enabled, the Face Id and the Touch Id is working perfectly fine.

WhatsApp has acknowledged the issue and said in a statement, “We are aware of the issue and a fix will be available shortly. In the meantime, we recommend that people set the screen lock option to immediately.”

What’s App Suspends its Services for Older Nokia Phones with the Start of the New Year

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Image Source: nokiamob.net

What’s App is one of the most used messenger apps across the world. It has been enhancing the user experience by making regular updates to it. But those updates and upgrades have to get some better system support to run on. Most of the older phone did not run the app due to the software and hardware compatibility issues. What’s App also announced a few years ago, that it will stop investing in the app for those older phones, and has been pulling out its support for many old phones regularly.

In contrast to that, it has now, halted its services for the Nokia phones based on the S40 platform, starting from January 1, 2019. The company had announced in the late December 2018, that it is going to cease its services for the S40 OS Nokia devices as they are no longer capable of handling the new updates to the app.

The cease has affected almost every S40 phones, especially the Asha series phones including the Nokia Asha 201, Nokia Asha 500, Nokia Asha 501, Nokia Asha 502, Nokia Asha 205, Nokia Asha 210, Nokia Asha 230, Nokia 208, Nokia 301, Nokia Asha 503, Nokia 515 and Nokia 206, etc. The other Nokia phones include Nokia 206, Nokia 208, Nokia 301, Nokia 515, Nokia C3-00, Nokia C3-01, Nokia X2-00, Nokia X2-01, Nokia X3-02 and Nokia X3-02.5.

The company had already removed its app support from various other smartphones last year including the BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia Symbian S60, Windows Phone 8.0 and its older versions. But still, the app has got its support for a few old OSes, except it has not provided all the new services to its users.

WhatsApp, in a post, stated, “This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. Those who own a phone powered by this very platform has no choice but to upgrade their device if they wish to continue using WhatsApp.”

What’s App is one of the most popular instant message service providers and with its support for the older phones, it had helped those who were not among the smartphone lovers and used the phones only to make calls and send messages. Now as What’s App has stopped its services for many of the Symbian phones and S40 platform phones, it is going to affect many of its users too.