WhatsApp Is Introducing Usernames
WhatsApp is introducing usernames, giving users a new way to connect without sharing their phone numbers. The announcement landed today, and reservations are already open, a notable shift for an app that has tied every account to a phone number for nearly two decades.
A Brief History of WhatsApp
WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, two former Yahoo engineers who met years earlier and grew close while working there. After buying an iPhone, Koum had the idea for an app that would show a contact's status, things like whether they were busy or low on battery. Early versions were unstable enough that Koum nearly gave up, but the app pivoted into something simpler and more useful: instant messaging that bypassed SMS charges entirely.
Acton later helped raise a small round of seed funding from former Yahoo colleagues and formally joined as a co-founder. The app expanded to BlackBerry, Android, and other platforms through 2010, and Google reportedly made several acquisition offers that the founders turned down. By 2013, WhatsApp had grown to hundreds of millions of monthly users on the back of a deliberately ad-free, low-data model funded mostly by a small annual subscription fee rather than advertising.
That growth caught Facebook's attention. In February 2014, Facebook announced it would acquire WhatsApp for roughly $19 billion, paid through a mix of cash, stock, and restricted stock units, making it the largest acquisition of a venture-backed startup at the time. WhatsApp continued operating semi-independently for a few years afterward, rolling out voice calls, video calls, and full end-to-end encryption. Tensions over data sharing and monetization eventually led both founders to leave the company: Acton in 2017, later funding the Signal Foundation, and Koum in 2018. Today WhatsApp operates as part of Meta Platforms and serves roughly three billion monthly users worldwide, making it the most widely used messaging app on the planet.
Why This Matters
For years, your phone number has been the only way people could find and message you on WhatsApp. While simple, it also meant sharing personal contact information with people you may not know well: a classmate, a neighbor, someone you met once at an event.
With usernames, you'll be able to connect with others while keeping your phone number private. This is especially useful for creators, communities, businesses, and anyone who values their privacy. WhatsApp's head of product has framed it as giving people more control over how they show up on the app, rather than forcing a single, permanent form of identity on every interaction.
How Usernames Will Work
Once the feature is fully live, your username becomes the default way people contact you instead of your phone number. There's an important detail here: WhatsApp isn't building a public directory or search function for usernames. People will need to know your exact username to message you for the first time. There's no browsing or recommendation system that surfaces your handle to strangers.
For extra protection, WhatsApp is also offering an optional username key, a short code that someone needs in addition to your username before they can reach you. Your phone number still exists in the background for account verification, login, and recovery. You just won't be handing it out as your default identifier anymore.
Username Rules
Usernames must be between 3 and 35 characters, include at least one letter, and can only use lowercase letters, numbers, periods, and underscores. They can't start with "www." or end in a domain extension like .com or .net, which prevents confusion with website addresses.
Because WhatsApp shares infrastructure with Instagram and Facebook under Meta, your username needs to be unclaimed across all three platforms simultaneously to be selected. WhatsApp is also reserving certain names for celebrities, public figures, and organizations to prevent impersonation, so even if a name technically meets the format rules, it may not be available.
Reserve Your Username Today
Starting this week, WhatsApp is allowing users to reserve a username ahead of the official launch later this year.
To reserve yours:
- Update WhatsApp to the latest version.
- Open Settings.
- Tap Account.
- Select Username.
- Choose and reserve your preferred username.
The reservation process only takes a few seconds. Once the feature officially launches later this year, you'll be able to use your reserved username to connect with others without revealing your phone number. If you already have a recognizable handle on Instagram or Facebook, WhatsApp is also giving creators, small businesses, and organizations the option to claim that same username here, so your identity stays consistent across Meta's apps.
What This Means for Businesses
Usernames aren't just a consumer feature. They come paired with a backend identifier called the Business-Scoped User ID, which businesses using the WhatsApp Business API will need to support. If a customer adopts a username, businesses that already have that customer's phone number from a prior conversation won't lose access to them; existing relationships carry over automatically. But businesses relying on phone-number-only workflows in their CRMs or support tools should start reviewing those systems now, since the rollout is already underway.
Rollout Timeline
The rollout is happening in phases rather than all at once. A limited beta began earlier this year, and broader country-by-country availability is expected to continue over the coming months, eventually reaching WhatsApp's full base of roughly three billion users by the end of 2026. Reserving a username now doesn't mean you'll be able to use it immediately. You'll get an in-app notification once the feature is actually live for your account and country.
The Bigger Picture
This update marks one of WhatsApp's biggest privacy improvements, giving users greater control over how they share their identity while making it easier to connect securely. It also brings WhatsApp in line with other messaging platforms. Telegram and Signal have offered usernames for years, though some privacy researchers caution that usernames alone don't make a platform inherently privacy-first, given Meta's broader data practices. Still, for the average user, the change removes one of the most uncomfortable parts of connecting with someone new: handing over a phone number you can't easily take back.
