From the beginning, WhatsApp requires phone numbers to register and serve as your ID. However, the popular messaging client will soon allow you to connect via username, a feature that has been present in other messaging applications such as telegram and signal for years.
In the latest beta build for Android, the WhatsApp settings menu allows you to reserve your username before the full user name system is introduced. That means regular users will soon be able to register and reserve a user name of their choice before the official rollout of the system. In this way, WhatsApp guarantees a ness pain in the new user name system, so early adopters may not claim popular usernames before.
Of course, some rules apply. The username cannot start with “www”. It should have at least one letter, and only lowercase letters, numbers, duration and underscores are allowed.
This feature will boost potential privacy, as many users do not feel comfortable sharing their phone numbers with the people they have received, so the next user name system will help with it.
Unfortunately, WhatsApp has not shared any official timeline for a rollout, so we can just sit down and wait for the full rollout, which will happen in the next few months as the company is already preparing.
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