Ever since its inception, WhatsApp required phone numbers to register and serve as your ID. However, the popular messaging client will soon allow you to connect via usernames, a feature that has been present in other messaging apps, such as Telegram and Signal, for years.
In the latest beta build for Android, WhatsApp’s settings menu allows you to reserve your username before the full username system is introduced. That means regular users will soon be able to register and reserve the username of their choice before the official rollout of the system. This way, WhatsApp ensures fairness in the new username system, so early adopters won’t be able to claim popular usernames first.
Of course, some rules apply. The username cannot start with “www.” It should contain at least one letter, and only lowercase letters, numbers, periods, and underscores are allowed.
This feature will likely boost privacy, too, as many users don’t feel comfortable sharing their phone numbers with people they just met, so the upcoming username system will help with that.
Unfortunately, WhatsApp hasn’t shared any official timeline for the rollout, so we can only sit and wait for the full rollout, which will likely happen in the next few months as the company is already preparing.
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