It's hard to imagine any phone in the modern age which doesn't use WhatsApp. The messaging giant – which is owned by Meta, these days – is a go-to application for messaging thanks to its encrypted platform.
Still, that privacy only goes so far. Right now, in order to liaise with someone on the app, you'll still need to share your phone number, which may be a piece of personal data too far for some.
Fortunately, a solution is coming. WhatsApp has reportedly been working on an update, which would allow users to select a username, allowing them to keep their number secure. The report comes from Android Police, which notes that the feature has been in development for around two years at this point.
According to that report, the feature would utilise a form of two-factor authentication. That would see users have both a username and a PIN code, both of which would be needed before users could send a message.
It also notes that users will have the opportunity to reserve their username of choice before the feature is fully rolled out. That's going to be especially pertinent for brands, and those who have worked hard to use the same usernames across other platforms.
Suggestions in the report point to an early reservation feature which will appear in the Profile tab, where a specific username section will be present. That will be around for a short while, before it rolls out to a larger audience.
It also gives us an idea of what the requirements for the usernames will be. It's nothing out of the ordinary, and includes the following:
- Can't begin with "www."
- Must contain at least one letter.
- Only certain characters are allowed: lowercase letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), periods, and underscores.
- Can not end with a domain like .com or .net.
- Can not start or end with a period.
- Character length must be between 3 and 30 characters.
Personally, I'm a fan of the change. While I've never been too concerned with sharing my number, that added layer of privacy will definitely help to keep out any unsolicited messages.
With no confirmed date for the feature to go live, we'll be keeping a close eye on further updates as this develops.
