Prepare to navigate a multitude of social networks.
Earlier this week, Meta announced that its popular messaging platform WhatsApp would introduce usernames. These identifiers can replace people’s phone numbers, allowing them to keep this personal contact information more private if they choose. The username feature is not yet active and will be rolled out globally over the coming months.
However, username reservations are now open and users are already scrambling to find out how they want to be known to friends and family as well as the app’s wider community. If you want to have the same tag on all your platforms, you will need to act quickly. Here’s what you need to know to lock your WhatsApp username.
How to reserve a username
For now, username reservations are only available on mobile versions of WhatsApp. If you keep your app updated, you can receive a notification when usernames are available for you to reserve. If you think you missed the notification or just want to access the menu yourself, here are the steps to follow:
For iPhone
- Press the You button
- Tap your profile
- Choose “Create Username” or “Reserve Username” (option may vary depending on deployment stage.)
- Tap Save > Done
For Android
- Tap the three-dot menu
- Tap Settings
- Tap your profile
- Choose “Create Username” or “Reserve Username” (again, what you see depends on what is available to you.)
- Tap Save > Done
Restrictions on WhatsApp usernames
As with most other social networks, your username must be unique. This means that no matter how much you want to be known as GlitterQueen4Eva, if someone else grabs that title first, you’ll need to find an alternative. The only way you’ll have a chance of getting back an already taken username is if that person chooses to change what they’ve reserved, which can happen. Once a claimed identifier has been changed or deleted, that name is reused after 14 days. Meta did not specify how many times a person will be allowed to change their nickname, but a limit will be applied at any given time.
In the menus above, if you don’t want to create a new username for yourself, you will see an option to use your same username from Facebook or Instagram. Assuming no one else has already picked it up, you can lock that name. You may want to use a quirky name for WhatsApp if privacy is your goal for a username.
In more practical terms, a username should be between three and 35 characters long. They can contain lowercase letters, numbers, underscores, and periods. You will not be allowed to have a username for all numbers, and “restricted words or phrases” will not be allowed either.
Use common sense to avoid scams
Meta has some measures in place to ensure messages come from people you know, such as an authorization key for people contacting you by username for the first time. However, some fear that adding unverified names to accounts could increase the chances of fraudsters convincing their targets that it is someone else. Although Meta won’t allow just anyone to pretend they’re Beyoncé or Tim Cook, the company hasn’t explained whether or how it will vet impersonators. While it’s safe to assume that the real Taylor Swift won’t suddenly send you a desperate message looking for money, social media scams have cost unsuspecting people billions of dollars in the United States alone.
Meta is already facing challenges with its global rollout in India. Reuters reported that the Indian government is asking Meta to freeze the rollout until it can provide additional justification for this feature and how the company will combat high fraud risks. India is the largest market for WhatsApp with over 500 million users.
