Since its launch in 2009 for iOS (a year later it arrived on Android), the WhatsApp messaging application has become the most used worldwide, an application that today exceeds 2.000 billion users , far above other messaging platforms such as Messenger or Telegram.
Since 2014, it has been part of Facebook, after a $19.000 billion acquisition that regulators failed to review at the time and which, even today, would not have received approval from the European Union . Given that it's one of the apps everyone installs every time they switch phones, security is paramount.
WhatsApp security
And when I talk about security, I'm referring to the different methods the company offers to prevent third parties from stealing a WhatsApp account and using it with our phone number, since this is the only identifier the platform uses.
Telegram and Messenger use other identification systems, although we can also use our phone number, but this option is not mandatory. Every time we change our phone number, WhatsApp sends a 6-digit code to the phone number we entered, a code that allows it to verify that we are the legitimate owners of the phone number we are using.
This method allows you to use WhatsApp on a smartphone with a different number than the one you are using, but at the same time, it is also a security risk since thieves can easily steal WhatsApp numbers.
Methods to verify WhatsApp
When it comes to verifying that we are the legitimate owners of the number that we want to use with WhatsApp, the messaging platform offers us two options:
- Through a 6-digit code that you send us in the form of SMS to our smartphone.
- Through a Phone call in which a machine will dictate the 6-digit code we need.
Through an SMS
To verify that we are the legitimate owners of the phone number we want to use via text message (SMS), we must perform the following steps:
- Once we have opened the application, click on Accept and continue.
- Then the application we will request permission to send us notifications.
- Then we enter the phone number with which we want to use WhatsApp.
- Seconds later we will receive an SMS code on our smartphone that the application will automatically read and will be in charge of entering the received code.
- If for any reason, you do not read the code, we access the Messages application, open the message we have received and enter the number in WhatsApp.
Through a call
- Once we have opened the application, click on Accept and continue.
- Then the application we will request permission to send us notifications.
- Then we enter the phone number with which we want to use WhatsApp.
- If we don't just receive the text message within seconds of entering the phone number, we most likely won't receive it. To obtain this code, we must click on Call me.
- Seconds later, we will receive the call (in our language and with an international prefix of Ireland +44) indicating the confirmation number that we have to write in the application in order to use the messaging application associated with our phone number.
Activate WhatsApp without verification code
As we saw in the previous section, WhatsApp provides us with two different methods to verify that we are the legitimate owners of the phone number, the only two possible methods to do so: via SMS or a phone call.
WhatsApp will never contact us through any other method. The app doesn't allow us to set up an email address to receive the confirmation code, and without that code, the app can't access the company's servers and contact all its daily users.
You can find websites or YouTube videos online that claim it's possible to receive the verification code by bypassing the only two options WhatsApp provides. None of the methods they show work; absolutely none of them do.
If that were the case, everyone would be doing it , especially the more curious and opportunistic users. On the internet we know and use daily, there's no way to hide or limit access to this kind of information. If it's possible to verify WhatsApp without a verification code, this information will be available on the Dark Web (not to be confused with the Deep Web) and it won't be free or cheap.
I have received a verification code from WhatsApp
WhatsApp sends SMS verification codes through a special security system that doesn't display the sender's phone number ; it only shows that it's WhatsApp sending it. If you receive an unsolicited WhatsApp account verification code, it means someone is trying to access your account on the platform.
If we then receive a phone call or text message requesting that code, we should NOT reply to the message , because if we do, they will be able to use our phone number as their WhatsApp account.
If we naively fall into the trap, fortunately the solution is quite simple , since we only have to log out of WhatsApp and request the verification code again when logging in for the first time to the application.
How to protect WhatsApp account
If we want to protect our account so that absolutely no one has access to it, especially if we follow the advice I mentioned in the previous section, WhatsApp offers us two-step verification.
What is WhatsApp XNUMX-Step Verification?
WhatsApp's two-step verification lets you set a PIN, a code only you know, to configure your phone number in the app. If you tend to forget things, WhatsApp allows you to enter an email address during the activation process to avoid losing access to your WhatsApp account.
This email only allows you to disable two-step verification ; it won't display the verification code you entered. If you enable two-step verification, the app will regularly remind you to enter the code to prevent you from forgetting it.
If we forget the PIN and haven't entered an email address during the activation of two-step verification, we'll have to wait 7 days without using WhatsApp so that the platform can verify the phone number again.