WhatsApp is preparing one of its biggest privacy changes by allowing users to create usernames instead of relying only on phone numbers to connect with others. The feature is designed to reduce a long-standing privacy concern on the platform, where sharing a WhatsApp contact often meant revealing a personal mobile number, even in situations where users may not want to expose it. With usernames, people will be able to reserve a unique handle and use it to start conversations without immediately giving away their phone number, making WhatsApp feel more private for casual chats, online communities, business interactions and new contacts. WhatsApp has said the rollout will happen gradually over the coming months, and users will be notified in the app when the option becomes available in their country. The username reservation process is expected to work through the latest version of WhatsApp by going to Settings, then Account, and selecting Username. Unlike some social platforms, WhatsApp usernames will not create a public searchable directory, meaning someone will need to know the exact username to contact a person. This is important because it keeps the feature focused on privacy rather than turning WhatsApp into an open social discovery platform. The company is also expected to protect high-profile usernames to reduce impersonation risks, while users may be able to choose handles that match their identity across other Meta apps if available. For everyday users, the change could be especially useful when joining groups, speaking with businesses, connecting with new clients, coordinating deliveries or communicating with people they do not know personally. Phone numbers will still remain linked to WhatsApp accounts behind the scenes, but usernames give users a new layer of control over how they are contacted. As WhatsApp continues expanding privacy tools, usernames could become a major step toward making the app safer, more flexible and less dependent on exposing personal contact details.
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WhatsApp is preparing one of its biggest privacy changes by allowing users to create usernames instead of relying only on phone numbers to connect with others. The feature is designed to reduce a long-standing privacy concern on the platform, where sharing a WhatsApp contact often meant revealing a personal mobile number, even in situations where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2431,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions\/2431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}