Meta Platforms is turning WhatsApp into a far less forgiving place for would‑be hackers. The company has introduced a high-security mode, branded inside the app as “Strict Account Settings”, that dramatically tightens what untrusted contacts can do and how accounts can be hijacked, positioning WhatsApp as the third major tech platform to roll out an extreme protection tier for people at heightened risk. The move gives journalists, activists and public figures a way to trade some convenience for a defensive posture that looks closer to a lockdown than a typical messaging experience.
The new controls arrive as spyware and targeted phishing campaigns increasingly spill into everyday chat apps, not just corporate email. By framing the feature as an optional but “extreme” layer designed for a relatively small group of high‑risk users, Meta is acknowledging both the scale of the threat and the reality that most people will only accept so much friction in their daily messaging.
What WhatsApp’s ‘Strict Account Settings’ actually does
At the heart of the update is a bundle of protections that switch on together rather than a single toggle buried in a submenu. When a user activates the stricter setting, two-step verification is automatically enabled and security alerts are turned on so that any attempt to change key account details triggers a notification, a combination that is meant to blunt SIM-swap attacks and social engineering aimed at stealing one‑time codes, according to When. The company has also labelled the mode an optional and extreme level of protection, built for a small number of users at risk of targeted digital attacks, a framing it has set out in more detail in its own description of the extreme protection.
Once Strict Account Settings is active, WhatsApp sharply limits how strangers can reach the user. The mode blocks attachments from unknown contacts, disables link previews and silences calls from numbers that are not already in the address book, a set of restrictions that Meta’s WhatsApp has described as an advanced security mode to protect against hackers and other malicious actors in its advanced mode. Meta has said the feature, which it is surfacing as a tool in the Privacy settings, is part of a broader effort by Meta Platforms to give high‑risk users a security boost, a role it has also highlighted in coverage of Meta Platforms.
Designed for journalists, activists and other high‑risk users
WhatsApp is explicit that this is not a mass‑market default but a specialist tool for people whose communications can carry outsized consequences. The company has said the mode is aimed at journalists, human rights defenders, civil society members and public figures who are more likely to be singled out by sophisticated attackers, a focus that is reflected in its description of high‑risk users. Internally, Meta has framed the feature as a way to Shield High Risk Users, language that appears in its explanation of how Strict Account Settings is designed to protect journalists and civil society members from targeted compromise attempts in its Shield High messaging.
The company’s own blog has tied the launch to a broader philosophy that people should be able to have a private conversation “with confidence”, and that this latest feature is its Latest Privacy Protection for those who face the most aggressive surveillance, a stance it lays out in detail in its explanation of Latest Privacy Protection. That same explanation stresses that Strict Account Settings is meant to make it harder for people not in a user’s contacts to reach them at all, a design choice that reflects how harassment and phishing often begin with unsolicited messages from unknown numbers, a pattern also highlighted in coverage of high‑risk options.
A lockdown‑style response to spyware and targeted hacking
The new mode is not just about nuisance spam, it is a direct response to the rise of commercial spyware and bespoke hacking campaigns that have used messaging apps as delivery channels. WhatsApp has described the feature as an anti‑spyware lockdown, a term that reflects its intent to block spyware and other malicious code from ever reaching the device, a goal it has detailed in its explanation of the anti‑spyware rollout. The company has also paired the mode with a separate set of anti‑spyware improvements that tighten how backups and device links work, part of a pair of security upgrades it has announced as a way to make it harder for attackers to mirror chats or siphon data silently, a package described in detail in its explanation of anti‑spyware mode.
In practice, the experience resembles the Lockdown‑Style Security Mode that Apple introduced for iOS, with WhatsApp itself describing its rollout as a way to Rolls Out Lockdown protections that users can find under Settings, Privacy and then Advanced, a path it has set out in its explanation of the Rolls Out Lockdown feature. The company has said the new mode is designed to Protect Targeted Users From Spyware by cutting off entire classes of content and connection that attackers have previously used for surveillance, a rationale that is echoed in reporting on how the Style Security Mode is meant to blunt sophisticated campaigns, a framing that appears in descriptions of the Style Security approach.
Part of a broader race to match Signal‑level protections
WhatsApp’s move does not happen in a vacuum, it is part of a broader trend in which major platforms are racing to offer hardened modes that look more like what privacy‑focused apps have long provided. Meta’s messaging service is now the third major tech firm to offer such a security boost, a status that has been underscored in coverage of how Meta’s WhatsApp is following earlier efforts by other platforms to give high‑risk users stronger protection, a context laid out in reporting on Read Time. Some analysts have framed the feature as an attempt to close the perceived gap with Signal, with one assessment explicitly asking whether WhatsApp is becoming the next Signal as it launches a high security mode that more aggressively locks down content from unknown sources, a comparison drawn in coverage of Signal.
That same analysis notes that in 2025 Alphabet’s Android launched its own advanced security features, and that other major platforms have introduced new security measures, a wave of upgrades that is referenced in discussion of how Android and others are reshaping expectations for default protections, a trend captured in coverage of More. WhatsApp itself has pitched Strict Account Settings as part of a continuum of upgrades that also includes new tools for iOS and Android users more broadly, a rollout it has described in detail in its explanation of how it announces strict account settings for iOS and Android, and in its own blog post on Strict Account Settings.
Trade‑offs, lawsuits and what comes next
For all its benefits, the new mode is not subtle about the trade‑offs it demands. Meta has acknowledged that the experience is more restrictive, with some features disabled and interactions with new contacts made deliberately harder, a reality it has underlined in its description of how the mode delivers stronger protection but a more restrictive app experience, a balance it has discussed in coverage of the restrictive experience. The company has also stressed that the feature is optional, and that users can toggle it off if the friction proves too high, a point that aligns with its broader messaging that people should be able to choose the level of protection that matches their risk profile, a theme that runs through its own explanation of Latest Privacy Protection.
