WhatsApp is preparing to let its users start conversations without handing over the one piece of information most of us would rather keep to ourselves: our mobile number.
Instead, the Meta-owned messaging service will allow people to communicate by exchanging unique usernames, a change that brings the world’s most used chat app into line with rivals that have offered the feature for years.
The rollout is being rolled out globally to the three billion WhatsApp account holders in the coming months. Starting this week, users can start saving a name through the app, although doing so will not be mandatory. The company says that people will be able to remove or change their username at any time, and that once the system is fully activated, two users will be able to connect without sharing anything but their handles. The usual options to block or report unwanted contacts will always be there.
How the new system works
The names will be included in 35 characters, there will be few restrictions compared to the recording of other officials and celebrities, their names will be fenced off so that they are not wanted by actors. In other words, WhatsApp is less likely to be flooded with trendsetting users like Donald Trump.
Meta features motion equally as a privacy feature. Alice Newton-Rex, WhatsApp’s head of product, said she heard many times from users who didn’t always want to share their phone numbers just to communicate, especially in group chats. He said he hoped the change would “give users more control over how they choose to appear” on the app.
Handles will be rolled out “gradually over the coming months”, according to Meta, with users notified when their username is live. Anyone who wants to go further can save the name now through their account or profile settings, where the option to search for a handle will appear as it becomes available.
For founders and owner-managers, there is a useful wrinkle. Creators, small businesses and organizations will be able to claim a username they already use on Instagram or Facebook, keeping their identity the same across Meta. Everyone who wants their WhatsApp handle to be the same as those in other Meta applications will need to link their existing accounts through the Accounts Center, which means that certain data, across services such as Threads and Messenger, is shared between those accounts. It’s a trade-off you should understand before you check the box.
Some users have already complained on social media that the option to withhold name has not appeared for them. The company’s advice is straightforward: make sure you’re using the latest version of the app and keep checking.
The general idea, finally comes
WhatsApp does not restart here. Encrypted messaging app Signal introduced a nearly identical feature in 2024, and the broader move, away from a phone number as a universal identifier, has been a long time in the making.
That context is important when weighing privacy claims. “It’s a nice feature, but even if it offers a lot of privacy, remember that WhatsApp is not an app that is perfect for privacy in general,” said Carisa Véliz, a professor at the University of Oxford and author of Privacy is Power. “It collects a lot of metadata about users for marketing purposes. We have to remember that WhatsApp is owned by Meta, one of the tech companies with the worst records when it comes to privacy.”
The difference is important for any business that relies on the platform. WhatsApp does not use the content of private conversations for advertising; those messages are protected by end-to-end encryption, so the company cannot read them. However, it takes other data, such as your general location and basic account information including age, to support advertising, a model explored in our coverage of Meta’s extensive use of automation and user data.
Once the feature is fully live, individual phone numbers will no longer be visible on WhatsApp. There will be no public user directory, and a phone number will still be required to open an account in the first place. The handle changes who can find you, not whether you are on the network.
Scam question
The obvious concern is that simple, numberless contact could give fraudsters a new avenue. Asked at X about security, the company pointed to “multiple layers of protection”. Chief among them is an optional username key, a short numeric code that means someone can only message you if they have both your username and that key, information verified by security store BleepingComputer. WhatsApp adds that its systems “detect and block abuse patterns” automatically, a method SecurityWeek notes is designed to limit the first unsolicited contact.
For SME owners who continue to use customer service, booking and sales through the app, the username key is a setting to watch. When used correctly, it provides a way to stay accessible to real customers while closing the door on opportunists.
The minimum age for the platform remains at 13, and messaging apps will remain outside the UK’s incoming social media restrictions for under-16s, due to come into effect next year, a regulatory framework that has already weighed in on the debate over whether stricter rules could exclude encrypted services in Britain and on earlier criticism of app age policies.
New name, new boss
The presentation of the user name also remains during the change at the top. WhatsApp recently confirmed that Kunal Shah, the founder of the Indian fintech, will take over as head of the platform, Will Cathcart stepping down after seven years at the helm.
For now, the message to users and businesses alike is to book early, limit Institutional Account transactions, and treat the username key as a feature rather than an afterthought. Whether it’s improving privacy or just repackaging it, the days of a phone number as your identity on WhatsApp seem to be numbered.
