Security
Unauthorized Logins
There have been many cases in which unauthorized third parties have logged in to internet services using email addresses and passwords leaked from other services. No information registered to LINE, such as phone numbers, email addresses, and passwords, have been compromised.
If you use the same email address and password for LINE as another service, we strongly recommend changing your password.
Please try the following on the smartphone version of LINE:
Reported cases of unauthorized logins
The following types of messages are often sent by the third party when an account is stolen. If you receive messages asking you to do the following from a friend, their account may have been stolen:
• Help me buy prepaid cards
• Help me buy iTunes cards
• I’m in trouble and need you to transfer money to my bank account
As they may change the content of their messages at any time, you should also suspect if your friend’s account has been stolen in the following cases:
• The messages do not sound like the way your friend talks
• A friend whom you have not spoken to for a long time suddenly asks you for money
• The friend's language is unnatural
If your friend’s account was stolen
If you suspect that your friend’s account may have been stolen, please contact them outside of LINE (in person, by text, by phone, or on a social network) to let them know.
If your account was stolen
If you are suddenly unable to access your account even though you did not make any changes to it, or if your friend contacts you to let you know that your account has been stolen, please see the following article:
If your LINE account was stolen by someone logging in without your authorization, please see the following:
1. Try logging in again.
Open LINE on your smartphone and tap Log in. Enter the email address and password configured previously and see if you can log in. If you manage to log in, go to Settings > Account > Change your email to change your password immediately.
2. Send an account deletion request.
If you are unable to log in after trying step 1, someone may have already changed your password. Please go to the Problem Report Form, select Account > Stolen Accounts, and send us the details of the issue. We will delete your account to prevent its further misuse. We will also restore your items after looking into your account.
Note: Items that can be restored
- The right to use your LINE stickers and themes (including those received as gifts)
- Purchase history and Coin balance
Account Security
If you create a new LINE account on a new device without deleting the account on your previous device, you will end up having two accounts.
Your old account cannot be deleted if you no longer have access to your previous device. Please ask your friends to block your old account in this case.
Please see the following article for help with blocking friends.
If a person with your mobile phone number registered in their contacts list starts LINE, they will automatically be added to your friends list. If you do not wish to automatically add friends, please turn off Auto Add Friends on your smartphone.
If your phone number is not registered in their contacts list, you appear under their Friends Recommendations, where your LINE Display name, profile photo, Status Message, and Home background image will be displayed. However, they will not be able to see any other information.
If you want to be deleted from their Friend Recommendations list, you must delete your account from your smartphone.
Likewise, once your account has been added to their friends list, you will remain there unless you delete your own account.
For information on deleting your account, please see this article.
Chat Security
As messages sent in chats are covered by the law governing privacy of communications, no LINE employee or third party, besides the chat participants themselves, will be able to view them. LINE treats the chat history and other information of its users as important personal information, and handles them with the maximum level of security possible.
To stop strangers from messaging you:
1. Settings > Privacy.
2. Turn Filter messages ON.
With the Filter messages setting turned on, you will no longer receive messages from strangers, but you also will not receive messages from any acquaintances that are in your Friend recommendations.
To block messages from LINE GAME apps, please follow the steps below.
1. Tap the settings icon > Notifications > Authorized Apps.
2. Tap the app you do not want to receive notifications for.
3. Turn OFF Receive Messages or Receive Notifications.
You will no longer receive messages from the app by turning OFF Receive Messages; however you will still receive gifts awarded to you from friends.
By turning OFF Receive Notification, you will still receive LINE chat messages; however you will not receive notifications for them.
Letter Sealing is a feature that provides end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for chat messages. E2EE is a communication system designed so that messages saved on our servers are encrypted and cannot be read by anyone except the sender and receiver of the message.
Once the sender and receiver have both turned on Letter Sealing, they will be able to start sending messages with added security.
The following information will be encrypted:
• Text messages (not including messages sent through other services like YouTube)
• Location information
• 1-on-1 voice/video calls
Note: We plan to expand Letter Sealing’s functionality in the future.
If you use LINE for iPad or PC after turning on Letter Sealing, you'll be required to verify your identity the first time you send a message by entering a 6-digit verification code on the smartphone version of LINE.
Friend Security
If a person with your mobile phone number registered in their contacts list starts LINE, they will automatically be added to your friends list. If you do not wish to automatically add friends, please turn off Auto Add Friends on your smartphone.
If your phone number is not registered in their contacts list, you appear under their Friends Recommendations, where your LINE Display name, profile photo, Status Message, and Home background image will be displayed. However, they will not be able to see any other information.
If you want to be deleted from their Friend Recommendations list, you must delete your account from your smartphone.
Likewise, once your account has been added to their friends list, you will remain there unless you delete your own account.
For information on deleting your account, please see this article.
If you select to send your contacts list data from your smartphone to LINE’s servers upon registering to LINE, the phone numbers in your contacts list will be used to search other friends who are LINE users. If we find those users, they will appear in your friends list under the names registered in your contacts list.
Therefore, if a user is no longer using the phone number that is saved in your contacts list, a third party may appear on your friends list under the name that is registered in your contacts list.
Please check if you have multiple entries for the same friend or whether you have a friend's old phone number or email address still registered in your contacts list.
The following happens when you block a friend.
- You will no longer receive chat messages or voice and video calls from them.
- They will be moved from your friends list to your Blocked Users list.
Blocking a user does not completely remove them from your friends or friend recommendations list. To do so, please see the following article.
To block a friend
1. Tap the friends icon.
2. Swipe to the left the friend you want to block.
3. Tap the Block button.
To unblock a friend
1. Tap the settings icon > Friends.
2. Tap Blocked Users.
3. Tap Edit to the friend you want to show again.
4. Tap Unblock.
It may take a while for the changes to take effect.
Removing a friend deletes them from your friends list, and unlike blocking, cannot be undone. Please be careful when removing a friend you cannot contact otherwise.
Before you remove a friend, you need to hide or block them. To see more details, please see the following articles.
To remove a friend
1. Tap the settings icon > Friends.
2. Tap Hidden Users or Blocked Users.
3. Tap Edit next to the friend you wish to remove.
4. Tap Remove.
LINE VOOM/Profile Security
You can hide a LINE VOOM/profile post by changing its privacy settings to Only me.
To change the privacy settings of a post:
1. Tap Public or the custom list name at the top of the post editing screen.
2. Tap Only me.
Note: If Only me already appears, you don't need to change the privacy settings.
If you want to share a post with only certain users, see this Help article.
You can share a LINE VOOM/profile post with only certain users by creating a custom list.
To create a custom list:
1. Tap Voom > "+" at the bottom right of the screen > Write.
2. Tap Public, the custom list name, or Only me at the top of the post editing screen.
Note: The privacy setting you choose will remain the next time you make a post.
3. Tap Custom lists > + Create list.
4. Tap the users you want to add from the Following/Followers tabs > Next.
5. Enter a custom list name and tap Save.
If you already have custom lists created, select the one you want to share a post with when making a post.
For the steps to edit a custom list after you've made a post, see this Help article.
For information on hiding posts, see this Help article.
Posts from users you follow will appear on LINE VOOM.
To hide a specific user's posts:
1. Tap the options icon at the top right of a post by the user.
2. Tap Unfollow XXXX > Unfollow, or Hide all updates from XXXX > Hide > OK.
All of the user's old posts will be hidden from LINE VOOM and their new posts will no longer appear.
Note:
- Users are not notified when you hide their posts.
- To hide a specific post, tap the options icon at the top right of the post > Hide this post > OK.
If you want to start seeing new posts from a user again after hiding them, use one of the methods below.
If you hid the user by selecting Unfollow XXXX:
1. Tap Voom > Manage LINE VOOM updates.
2. Tap Following > Discover friends.
3. Tap Follow to the right of the user.
If you hid the user by selecting Hide all posts from XXXX:
1. Tap Settings > LINE VOOM.
2. Tap Accounts hidden on LINE VOOM.
3. Enable the option next to the user.
Your LINE VOOM posts are only visible to your followers.
Note: If you set the privacy settings of a post to Public, people other than your followers will also be able to see it.
If you want to share a post with only certain followers, see this Help article.
If a friend's LINE VOOM posts no longer appear, it may be because:
• You aren't following them.
• You added them to Accounts hidden on LINE VOOM.
• You added them to Accounts blocked on LINE VOOM.
• They added you to Accounts blocked on LINE VOOM.
If you hid or blocked someone on LINE VOOM, you can view their LINE VOOM posts again by unhiding or unblocking them.
Note: When you unblock someone, they will also be able to view your LINE VOOM posts.
Posts that you set to share only with yourself or certain users will also appear on your profile, but only on your device.
When you make a post on LINE VOOM to be shared with a custom list of users, it will not appear to any users who are not on the list.
Note: The content of posts set to Only me will not appear to anyone but yourself.
If a user who is not included in a custom list visits your profile, they will only see posts that you've made Public.