Two-step verification adds a six-digit PIN that WhatsApp asks for whenever your number is registered on a device. Someone who gets hold of the activation message still cannot get in without it.
The steps
Open the app’s settings, then Account, then Two-step verification, then Turn on or Set up PIN. Enter a six-digit PIN of your choice and confirm it.
Do not skip the email
WhatsApp then asks for an email address you can reach, and offers a Skip button beside it. WhatsApp itself recommends adding one, because the address is what lets you reset two-step verification, and it is what safeguards the account.
If you forget the PIN
Without an email on file you must wait seven days before you can reset it. With one, WhatsApp sends the reset instructions to that address.
Photograph: a smartphone held in the hand. Photograph by Rodion Kutsaev, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: the official WhatsApp help page on two-step verification, faq.whatsapp.com.
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