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WhatsApp offers a new way to add and chat with contacts, without having to share your phone number. Usernames will be launched “later this year”, in a move to make the communications platform “more private”, allowing you to hide your phone number from people who are not already in your contacts.
Usernames are available to reserve starting this week, giving you time to claim a specific ID you may already be using elsewhere before the WhatsApp username feature officially launches. The username launch will be rolled out gradually over the coming months, and users will be notified when the feature is available in their country.
WhatsApp said in its announcement: “With more than three billion people on WhatsApp, a lot of names overlap, which is why we are opening reservations early so that everyone has the opportunity to choose the username that interests them.”
You can reserve your username by going to Settings > Account > Username in the latest version of WhatsApp. Individuals and organizations will have the option to claim their existing Instagram or Facebook IDs to help prevent WhatsApp impersonators. Likewise, said Alice Newton-Rex, WhatsApp product lead Edge Usernames of famous figures like celebrities and politicians have already been reserved to prevent them from being claimed – so if you share a name with a well-known public figure, you’ll have to create an alternative ID.
You can’t browse for people using their usernames, so you’ll need to know exactly The username of a new contact before you can communicate with them. If you’ve already shared your phone number with WhatsApp contacts or group chats, the number will still be visible to them after you enable the username feature, so these privacy protections only apply to new conversations from now on.
WhatsApp also offers an “optional username key” that others will need to know before they can message you, to help you control who can reach you using your WhatsApp username if it is made public without your consent.
