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Celine Low chevron_right
For years, using WhatsApp has always meant sharing your phone number. Whether you're in a big group chat, connecting with a new colleague, or chatting with someone you just met online, your phone number is often visible to anyone in the conversation who doesn't already have it saved.
That constant exposure often leads to annoying spam calls or being added to strange groups you never asked to join. It's a real pain point, but it seems WhatsApp is aware of our pains. The company reportedly in the midst of developing a privacy feature that will hide your phone number.
No More Dodgy Phone Calls Or Group Chats
WhatsApp is reportedly planning a major privacy update that will let users choose a unique username instead of relying solely on their phone number. Screenshots from WABetaInfo show that the company will set specific criteria for selecting these usernames to prevent impersonations and scams.
- Your chosen username mustn't already be taken by someone else, nor can it be one already saved in your contacts.
- Usernames will be between 3 and 30 characters long, though this might be adjusted in the future.
- Lowercase letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), periods (.), and underscores (_) are allowed.
- Your username must include at least one letter, not just solely of numbers or symbols.
- Usernames can't start with "www." or end with common web domains like ".com" or ".net".
- Usernames shouldn't start or end with a period, and you can't use two periods in a row like "user..name".
It's currently unclear if emojis will be permitted in usernames.
Once you pick a username that meets all these conditions, you'll get a confirmation message indicating you've successfully linked to your account.
What happens if someone changes their username? WhatsApp has thought of that too! A system message will automatically appear within the chat thread, informing everyone in the conversation whenever someone updates their username. These notifications will be delivered in real-time, making sure everyone is kept up-to-date.
While these rules are designed to significantly reduce impersonation attempts and unwanted scams, you should still be cautious, just as they would on any online platform.
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News sources: WABetaInfo
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