The world's most popular messaging app is changing a fundamental operating principle: Users will no longer need to share their personal phone number to chat with new contacts, WhatsApp has announced.
Instead, the messaging app is introducing individual usernames to help you find and reach each other users.
The worldwide phase for reserving preferred names has begun, WhatsApp says, with the feature set to gradually roll out to all users over the course of the year. Users who want to claim a specific username can do so by going to settings and then Account, then Username.
Privacy at the heart of the new feature
Until now, the phone number linked to your WhatsApp account was visible to everyone you chat with. For this reason, Alice Newton-Rex, head of product at WhatsApp, described the switch to usernames as a "core privacy feature."
She said that because personal phone numbers are often linked to sensitive areas of people's lives, users should now be able to decide for themselves who they share their number with - for example when joining new group chats or meeting new people.
Anyone who is contacted via their username in future, or who messages someone else, will no longer reveal their number - unless the other person has already saved it in their phone book. During calls made through the app, the username will also be displayed instead of the phone number. However, a phone number will still be required to create a WhatsApp account in the first place.
Because WhatsApp expects high demand for popular names, the reservation period will open simultaneously worldwide to give everyone an equal chance at their preferred name. Each username must be unique and can later be changed or deleted.
For those who are undecided, the app offers a name generator for inspiration. Businesses, influencers and organizations will also receive a special feature: by linking their Meta account, they can claim their already established Facebook or Instagram usernames directly for WhatsApp, preserving their online identity.
No public directory
To prevent spam and unwanted contact requests, there will be no public directory to browse and no autocomplete suggestions. Users will need to know the exact username of a person in order to contact them.
As an additional protective measure, WhatsApp is introducing an optional "username key." If users activate this, strangers will need to know this additional code in order to send a first message to the username at all.
By hiding phone numbers, WhatsApp is fulfilling one of the most frequently expressed wishes of its global user base and catching up technologically with its competitors. The messaging app Signal has allowed users to hide their number behind a username since early 2024. On Telegram, communicating via public usernames is also standard practice.
Those seeking complete anonymity online will find it with alternatives such as Threema or Session: these apps dispense entirely with personal data such as phone numbers even at the registration stage and work purely with randomly generated IDs.
WhatsApp, which belongs to the Facebook parent company Meta, dominates the global messaging app market with around 3 billion users. Telegram is by far the largest alternative to WhatsApp, with around 1 billion users.
Signal, with its focus on privacy, is growing steadily and is estimated to have between 70 million and 100 million users.
