WhatsApp has billions of daily active users. With such a large user base, it’s essential to have fancy new features to stay relevant. For years, the instant messaging app relied on phone numbers to register an account, and this serves as your ID. However, this might change soon as WhatsApp may soon allow you to connect via usernames, as the reservation option is present in the latest beta. The username feature has been there on competing apps like Telegram and Signal for quite some time.
WhatsApp may soon get a username reservations feature
The WhatsApp beta for Android 2.25.28.12 update shows the username reservation option under settings. This means regular users will soon be able to register and secure their preferred usernames before the full system is more widely available. This way, the Meta-owned app ensures fairness and prevents early adopters from claiming popular names first.
Adding this feature will improve privacy further, as some users may not be comfortable sharing their phone numbers with people they have just met. In this regard, the username system will help with that.
No official rollout timeline yet
However, there are certain terms and conditions for the feature. The username cannot start with “www.” It should contain at least one letter, and only lowercase letters, numbers (0-9), periods, and underscores are allowed.
There’s no official timeline for the rollout of the WhatsApp username feature. It may be publicly available in the coming months, as it’s already in testing. The gradual rollout will help WhatsApp improve its performance and fix any issues. Meanwhile, the reservations option should give more users a chance to secure a username in advance.
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