WhatsApp is about to introduce username reservations on Android | Infinium-tech

Since its inception, WhatsApp requires a phone number to register and serve as its ID. However, the popular messaging client will soon allow you to connect through the user name, a feature that exists for other messaging apps, such as telegram and signal, for years.

In the latest beta build for Android, the Settings menu of WhatsApp allows you to reserve your user name before the full user name system starts. This means that regular users will soon be able to register and reserve the user name of their choice before the official rollout of the system. In this way, WhatsApp ensures fairness in the new user name system, so the first popular user to adopt will not be able to claim the name.

Of course, some rules apply. The user name cannot start with “www”. It should have at least one letter, and only the lowercase letters, number, duration and underscore are allowed.

This feature will probably promote privacy, as many users do not feel comfortable sharing their phone numbers with people they had now met, so the upcoming user name system will help with it.

Unfortunately, WhatsApp has not shared any official timeline for the rollout, so we can only sit and wait for a full rollout, which is likely to be in the next few months as the company is already preparing.

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