Everything is for greater security, and we appreciate it: WhatsApp has allowed us to play with the verification in two steps since November last year, but in a beta version that until today has not become a reality for the more than one billion Of users who have the messaging application.

When I say “for all” I mean those mobile users who have Android, iOS or Windows Phone as operating systems, so that few people escapes the possibility. Why “two steps”? As the first is the start from the phone with SMS or call, which already serves as a way to authenticate the account, and the second, and new, a six-digit code that we have to create ourselves.

WhatsApp seeks to reduce the risks of phishing, to provide the best security in an application that does not have passwords.

That code will be claimed by the WhatsApp application periodically, something that everyone does not like, as it may be uncomfortable, but I’m sure for many it will be important.

This new possibility can be activated in a simple way, through the following route: Configuration> Account> 2-step verification> Activate. It may not appear right now, update the application or wait a bit, we will receive it during the day.

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Once you enter the six-digit code it will become the key that we will need to activate the account on other devices. It should be noted that you can also associate an email that will serve to disable this verification, in case we do not want it, or have lost the code.

You have to be careful with a situation : if we want to register our number but we do not have the code and we do not provide mail, we will not be able to activate our WhatsApp account until seven days have passed. After that week we will have the opportunity to register in WhatsApp without the code, but we will not receive the pending messages. If 30 days pass without entering the verification code, our account will be restarted, as if it were a new user.

I do not know if in the most effective or comfortable way, but WhatsApp worries about the vulnerability of our accounts, until now simply associated with the telephone number, but 2016 was a year in which some further steps were taken in security issues, such as the incorporation of end-to-end encryption.