WhatsApp Gets Closer to Adding a Username System

After finally launching its long-awaited iPad app, WhatsApp may soon introduce a new username system to lessen its reliance on phone numbers. The team at WABetaInfo discovered traces of the new feature in the latest beta version of WhatsApp for iOS, with different screens showing how to create a unique WhatsApp username.

The WhatsApp team already teased this new username system back in October when it made it possible to save new contacts directly to WhatsApp instead of your phone’s address book. At the time, the company stated that this new feature would enable users to manage and save contacts by username.

“Usernames on WhatsApp will add an extra degree of privacy so that you don’t need to share your phone number when messaging someone,” the WhatsApp team said in October, adding that it would have more to share about usernames when the feature is ready. Other messaging apps like Telegram and Signal already let users create usernames and hide their phone numbers from others, so it’s time for WhatsApp to finally catch up.

The screenshots shared by WABetaInfo reveal the different restrictions related to WhatsApp’s upcoming username system. Users will need to use between 3 and 30 characters, including numbers, periods, and underscores, usernames that start or end with a period or have 2 periods in a row will be blocked. To protect users from potential scams, it also won’t be possible to choose a username that starts with ‘www’ or ends with a domain like ‘.com’.

Again, username support isn’t live yet in this latest WhatsApp beta for iOS, but public testing will hopefully start soon. The WhatsApp team is known for iterating pretty slowly, though: It only took a bit more than two years for WhatsApp for iPad to go out of beta.