Privacy

Screen Lock & Biometric Unlock

Lock entire screens with a password or fingerprint — and keep push notifications private too.

Privacy goes beyond end-to-end encryption. Sometimes you hand your phone to a friend, leave it on a desk, or share a device with family members. ChatCript’s Screen Lock feature ensures that even if someone picks up your unlocked phone, they can’t access your private conversations, groups, or friend list without your permission.

What You Can Lock

ChatCript lets you lock four screens independently:

  • Home — Hides your home feed, posts from friends, and public content.
  • Chats — Hides your entire chat list and all private conversations.
  • Groups — Hides your groups, channels, and all group content.
  • Friends — Hides your friends list and friend requests.

You can lock any combination — lock just Chats for quick privacy, or lock everything for maximum protection. The Search screen remains accessible, but search results respect your lock settings: locked screens won’t leak content through search results.

Setting Up Screen Lock

  1. Go to Profile → Settings → Privacy & Security → Lock Settings.
  2. Tap “Chat Lock Password” to set a password (minimum 4 characters) if you haven’t already.
  3. Toggle on the screens you want to lock: Home, Chats, Groups, or Friends.
  4. That’s it — those screens are now protected.

How It Works

  • Locked screens display a lock icon in the centre — all content is completely hidden behind it.
  • Tap the lock icon and enter your password to unlock.
  • When the app goes to the background (you switch to another app, press the home button, or lock your phone), all enabled screens lock immediately.
  • When you restart the app, all enabled screens start locked.
  • 3 wrong password attempts triggers a 30-minute lockout to prevent brute-force guessing.

Biometric Unlock — Fingerprint & Face ID

Typing a password every time you open the app can be tedious. That’s why ChatCript supports biometric unlock — use your fingerprint or face to unlock locked screens instantly.

Supported Biometrics
  • Touch ID — iPhones with a fingerprint sensor (iPhone SE, iPhone 8, etc.)
  • Face ID — iPhones with Face ID (iPhone X and newer)
  • Android Fingerprint — Most Android phones with a fingerprint sensor
  • Android Face Recognition — Android phones with face unlock support

ChatCript uses your device’s built-in biometric system. There’s no separate setup — if your phone already has fingerprint or Face ID configured, it just works.

How to Enable Biometric Unlock
  1. Go to Lock Settings and make sure at least one screen lock is enabled.
  2. A new toggle appears: “Unlock with fingerprint / Face ID”.
  3. Turn it on — your device will prompt you to verify your identity with your fingerprint or face.
  4. Done! Locked screens now show a fingerprint icon below the lock.
Using Biometric Unlock
  • When you see a locked screen, the biometric prompt appears automatically.
  • Place your finger on the sensor (or look at your phone for Face ID) to unlock instantly.
  • You can also tap the fingerprint icon to re-trigger the biometric prompt.
  • If biometrics fail or you prefer, tap the lock icon to use your password instead — the password always works as a fallback.

Push Notification Privacy

Here’s something most apps don’t do: when you lock a screen in ChatCript, push notifications for that screen are automatically suppressed. This means:

  • Lock Chats → No push notifications for new chat messages.
  • Lock Groups → No push notifications for group chat messages.
  • Lock Friends → No push notifications for new friend requests.

This prevents someone from reading your messages through notification banners on the lock screen or notification centre — even without opening the app.

When you disable a screen lock (turn off the toggle), push notifications resume immediately. This does not affect any other notification settings you’ve configured — your muted groups, timed mutes, and global notification preferences remain unchanged.

Per-Profile Independence

If you use Virtual Profiles, each profile has completely independent lock settings:

  • Separate lock password for each profile.
  • Separate screen lock toggles (Home, Chats, Groups, Friends) for each profile.
  • Separate biometric unlock preference for each profile.

Locking the Chats screen on your Main Profile does not lock it on your Virtual Profile, and vice versa. Switching profiles loads that profile’s lock settings and immediately locks the enabled screens.

Search Privacy with Locked Screens

The Search screen is always accessible (it’s never locked). However, search results respect your lock settings:

  • Home locked → Search won’t show your posts, friends’ posts, or public home feed posts.
  • Groups locked → Search won’t show posts from your groups or your joined groups. Public groups you haven’t joined still appear — they’re discoverable by design.

Forgot Your Password?

  1. Go to Lock Settings → Chat Lock Password.
  2. Tap “Forgot password?”.
  3. If biometric unlock is enabled, you’ll be prompted to verify with fingerprint or Face ID first. Once verified, you can set a new password immediately — no email required.
  4. If biometric is not available or verification fails, an OTP (one-time password) is sent to your registered email address. Enter the OTP and set a new password.

The OTP email clearly states which profile (Main or Virtual) the code is for, so you always know which password you’re resetting.

Quick Tips

  • Enable biometric unlock for convenience — it’s much faster than typing a password every time.
  • Lock the Chats screen if you only want to protect conversations — you don’t need to lock everything.
  • Remember that locking a screen also suppresses push notifications — great for privacy, but make sure you check the app regularly so you don’t miss important messages.
  • Use different lock settings per profile — lock your personal profile but leave your work profile unlocked for quick access.