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WhatsApp Usernames Are Coming: Here’s How To Claim Yours
Meta says handles will keep phone numbers private. Regulators and fraud watchers are less sure the trade-off is that simple.
For more than a decade, using WhatsApp has meant handing out your phone number. But that’s about to change. Meta announced last week that the messaging platform will introduce usernames – handles that can stand in for a phone number, keeping personal contact details private.
The feature isn’t live yet, and a global rollout will unfold over the coming months. But reservations are already open, and the scramble has begun. Anyone hoping to carry the same handle across every platform will want to move quickly.
Reservations are currently limited to the mobile app. On iPhone, users will need to tap the You button, open their profile, and select “Create Username” or “Reserve Username,” depending on whether the rollout has reached them. On Android, the same options sit under the three-dot menu, in Settings, via your profile. There’s also a shortcut: users can claim their existing Facebook or Instagram handle, provided nobody has taken it first – though anyone chasing privacy may prefer a fresh name that isn’t linked to their other accounts.
The rules are similar to other online platforms. Usernames must be unique, between three and 35 characters, and composed of lowercase letters, numbers, underscores, and periods. All-number handles are banned, as are restricted words or phrases. If someone changes or deletes a claimed name, it returns to the pool after 14 days. Meta hasn’t said how many changes each user will be allowed, only that a limit is coming.
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The harder part of the puzzle is fraud. Meta plans an authorization key for first-time contact by username, but it hasn’t explained how it will police copycats impersonating public figures, which is a real concern when social media scams have already cost users billions of dollars.
Reuters reported that India’s government wants Meta to freeze the rollout until it justifies the feature and details how it will combat the elevated fraud risks. With more than 500 million users, India is WhatsApp’s largest market, and will be the first regulatory test of whether usernames launch everywhere at once.