Exchanging contact information is how group chats launch and new acquaintances bloom into friends. But until recently, the only way you could do that on Meta’s WhatsApp was by also sharing your phone number –– and that can be one of the most revealing parts about your identity to casually share with a stranger.
“Your phone number is likely going to be attached to all kinds of other accounts, and so if somebody manages to hijack your phone number, then they could also likely recover other accounts,” said Martin Shelton, deputy director of digital security at Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Kevin Tackett, CEO of Secure Ideas, a consulting company dedicated to security testing and training, said people can also use a phone number to search people’s information on data broker sites. It’s also how scammers target victims. “I could just get your phone number and then text you or call you and pretend to be your bank,” Tackett said as an example.
That’s why WhatsApp’s new username feature is an important step forward for users’ privacy and security on the app. WhatsApp recently announced it is “gradually” rolling out a new privacy feature, so people have the option to reserve a username to message people on the app instead of a phone number.
“When you message a person or business for the first time they will no longer see your phone number, if you enabled your username,” WhatsApp states on its blog post about the change. This way, you can use your name or be “Batman007” if you prefer, and use a codename in private group chats. Signal and Telegram already offer users this option. WhatsApp is “late to the game, because a lot of their competitors have had this for at least a couple of years,” Shelton said.
Reserving your optional username should not take more than a minute, but first you need to update to the latest version of WhatsApp to see the feature. Once you do that, go to Settings, then select Account, then Username. WhatsApp will also give users the option to use their Instagram or Facebook username if they desire consistency across apps.
If you want to use your real name without needing a series of numbers, act fast. When I checked myself, I found that many common first and last names were already reserved.
How To Pick A Safer Username For Your Privacy Needs
via Associated Press
Picking the right username means first considering why you use WhatsApp. If you use it for professional and public reasons, it’s fine to use a version of your actual name to help people know who they are talking with.
Harlo Holmes, chief security programs officer at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said she did not use her Instagram username as her WhatsApp username because she uses WhatsApp for public reasons, and keeps her Instagram private. “I just went with my full name, because I personally don’t use WhatsApp anonymously,” Holmes said.
Famous names can create opportunities for impersonation, so you should be wary if someone claiming to be Brad Pitt or a large institution tries to message you on WhatsApp. The co-founder of cryptocurrency company Binance, Changpeng Zhao, said on X that he couldn’t reserve the username “cz_binance,” the social media handle he uses. “Definitely not me,” Zhao wrote.
“There can be a lot of impersonation that we’re going to see,” Holmes said. “I am not, quite frankly, sold on usernames being more safe in terms of understanding who you are talking to.”
You should also be conscious of what personal details you add in a username. If you are going to add numbers to your username, don’t pick any numbers that could reveal potentially sensitive information like the year you were born, your middle name or your banking pin number, Tackett said.
“I’ve literally worked with people that it’s like, ’Hey, what are those four numbers at the end of your … account?’ And the answer is, ’Oh, those are my last four of my Social [Security number],’” he said.
Keep in mind that choosing a random WhatsApp username will only keep your phone number more private to strangers, not Meta, because Meta already knows who you are, Holmes said. “Fundamentally, there’s no obscuring your identity from Meta,” she said.
Despite these drawbacks, this username update is still useful, especially if you are someone who has faced harassment and wants a little more anonymity online.
“From a privacy perspective, if you are a person who has been bitten in the past by people who have been doxxing, then having the ability to just give a username rather than a phone number is going to give you a lot of ease of mind,” Holmes said.
