WhatsApp’s Big Shift: Usernames to replace phone numbers
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This is meant to give people more privacy, especially in large groups or business chats where sharing personal numbers may feel uncomfortable.
Femi Fabunmi
WhatsApp is testing a new feature that will allow people to connect without sharing their phone numbers.
Instead, users will be able to create special usernames just like on Instagram, Telegram, or X (formerly Twitter). This could be one of the biggest privacy updates in WhatsApp’s history.
The new feature was discovered in WhatsApp’s beta testing program. It will let users chat and join groups using usernames rather than phone numbers.
This is meant to give people more privacy, especially in large groups or business chats where sharing personal numbers may feel uncomfortable.
Screenshots from the test version show a new “Username” field in profiles, allowing users to choose unique names and hide their numbers if they want. However, experts warn that this could lead to problems such as people copying others’ usernames or pretending to be someone else.
WhatsApp plans to add verification tools to prevent such misuse. The feature is still being tested, but if it succeeds, it could change how more than two billion people communicate making
WhatsApp focused more on names instead of numbers.
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