HushMessage Apps With a Password: How the Locks Differ
Chat locks, app locks and separate workspaces protect different things. Compare what each unlock grants access to, how notifications behave and which surfaces remain discoverable.
WhatsApp Chat Lock controls access to individual chats; Secret Code can hide its Locked Chats folder. Supported iPhone app locks protect a whole app, and Samsung Secure Folder creates a separate workspace. Hush uses a separate six-digit code for each Hush chat. An incorrect code opens no content, but can produce keypad feedback.
WhatsApp Chat Lock and Secret Code — the closest mainstream analog
Chat Lock is one mainstream option for per-conversation access control. Lock a chat and it leaves the main list for a Locked Chats folder that opens only with your fingerprint, face, or phone passcode. Notifications from locked chats stop showing the sender's name and the message text. That's genuinely good design, and for plenty of people it's enough.
WhatsApp Secret Code can hide the Locked Chats folder from the chat list, then reveal it when the code is entered in search. This is a real hiding option, not a permanently visible folder. Hush's different mechanism is a separate code for each chat. Read WhatsApp's explanation.
Whole-app locks and separate workspaces
iPhone — authentication for a supported app
Touch and hold a supported app, choose Require Face ID, Touch ID or Passcode, and confirm. Downloaded apps may also offer Hide and Require Face ID. Apps installed with iOS cannot be hidden, and other exceptions apply. The unlock is app-wide; it does not select one conversation. Check Apple’s controls and exceptions.
Android — separate workspaces and app pinning
Samsung Secure Folder creates a separate workspace and supports hiding its icon from the home and apps screens. It remains accessible through settings. Manufacturer app locks have their own controls. Samsung explains Secure Folder.
On supported Android 15+ devices, native private space separates apps into another profile. Locked apps stop running and sending notifications; the container can be hidden while locked. This is distinct from Samsung Secure Folder and Hush Private Spaces. Read Android’s eligibility and limitations.
Side by side: what each lock controls
| App / feature | Locks what | What an onlooker sees |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp Chat Lock | Individual chats, one by one | A Locked Chats folder; Secret Code can optionally hide it |
| WhatsApp Secret Code | The Locked Chats folder | The folder can stay hidden until its code is entered in search |
| iPhone Require Face ID | An entire app | A Face ID prompt the moment the icon is tapped |
| iPhone Hide App | An entire app, off the Home Screen | A locked Hidden section in the App Library |
| Samsung Secure Folder | A separate workspace of apps | Its icon can be hidden; access remains available in settings |
Compare the scope of each unlock
A whole-app unlock can grant access to several conversations. A shared folder code can reveal that folder. A per-chat code opens a single chat. These are different access boundaries; none establishes that all activity is undiscoverable.
Use the access boundary that fits your need, together with device and notification settings. A visible lock is not evidence that the protection is ineffective, and a hidden interface is not a guarantee against device examination.
How Hush uses a separate code for each chat
Hush's home screen is a numeric keypad with no contact or conversation list on that screen. Each chat opens with its own six-digit code; leaving the chat returns you to the keypad. Requests, blocked users and security alerts can show names or badges elsewhere in the app.
Start with free messaging and a limited photo/video sharing allowance. Plus increases eligible sharing allowances and adds longer expiry options and custom contact names. Either person's Plus can extend eligible benefits to that conversation; it does not upgrade the other person's account or personal storage. See the current limits, available settings and prices in the app.
- Install Hush from your app store. It is free to download, with optional in-app purchases.
- Create an account and choose a username. The current default signup needs no phone number or email.
- Connect by username or invite link. For a username request, choose your six-digit code when sending or accepting it; the other person must approve and chooses their own code. A one-tap invite link from Hush connects you without a separate approval once the person who received it has set up Hush and taps it.
- Open the chat with your code. Return to the keypad when you leave.
- Check notification controls on both phones. Select show name, hide name or mute for that contact, then check the actual notifications.
An incorrect code does not open a chat or space. The keypad can give error feedback. Security alerts can warn about several different incorrect codes tried in a short time. A single typo does not normally trigger an alert, and an alert does not prove who tried the codes.
- Hush conversations happen inside Hush. It does not hide existing SMS, iMessage or WhatsApp chats. Both people need Hush to message each other.
- Keep your codes and account access safe. There is no in-app forgotten-code recovery or master unlock. Reconnecting with a known username starts fresh and does not recover earlier history. The default account has no implemented recovery route after session loss; do not assume reinstalling or changing devices restores it.
- Hush is not end-to-end encrypted. Backend services store messages, media and access data. Code-based access is not a guarantee against server or device access.
Common questions
Is there a master password for Hush?
No. Each code resolves to one chat or private space. A code for one does not open all the others.
Are six digits a security guarantee?
No. Six digits describe the access mechanism, not encryption strength or protection against all guessing, server access or device examination. Keep the device and codes safe.
Can someone keep trying codes?
An incorrect code does not open a chat or space. The keypad can give error feedback. Security alerts can warn about several different incorrect codes tried in a short time. A single typo does not normally trigger an alert, and an alert does not prove who tried the codes.
Can Hush password-protect iMessage?
No. Hush does not change iMessage or SMS threads. It supplies its own code-based conversations; supported iPhone app locks are a separate device feature.
