Facebook testing Face ID/Touch ID authentication for Messenger app

Facebook is testing a new privacy feature for the iOS version of the Messenger app.

The privacy feature will require iOS users to authenticate their identity via Face ID, Touch ID or their passcode before accessing the Messenger app on their devices. The authentication prompt will appear even if users have already unlocked their iOS devices.

Based on a screenshot provided by Facebook, iOS user can decide when to activate the privacy feature. There are four options: after leaving Messenger, 1 minute after leaving, 15 minutes after leaving or an hour after leaving.

"We want to give people more choices and controls to protect their private messages, and recently, we began testing a feature that lets you unlock the Messenger app using your device's settings," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "It's an added layer of privacy to prevent someone else from accessing your messages."

The privacy feature is currently being tested by a small group of iOS users and Facebook has plans to expand it to more users including those on Android devices. A similar feature is already available on WhatsApp for Android and iOS.

This article was first published in Hardware Zone.