{"id":283871,"date":"2026-06-30T00:54:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T04:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/30\/explained-whatsapps-username-update-and-what-it-means-for-your-privacy-whatsapp-new-feature-kunal-shah-chief\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T01:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:05:08","slug":"explained-whatsapps-username-update-and-what-it-means-for-your-privacy-whatsapp-new-feature-kunal-shah-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/30\/explained-whatsapps-username-update-and-what-it-means-for-your-privacy-whatsapp-new-feature-kunal-shah-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"Explained: WhatsApp&#8217;s Username Update And What It Means For Your Privacy, Whatsapp new feature, Kunal Shah chief"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/world-news\/explained-whatsapps-username-update-and-what-it-means-for-your-privacy-whatsapp-new-feature-kunal-shah-chief-11705662\">Explained: WhatsApp&#8217;s Username Update And What It Means For Your Privacy, Whatsapp new feature, Kunal Shah chief<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/world-news\/explained-whatsapps-username-update-and-what-it-means-for-your-privacy-whatsapp-new-feature-kunal-shah-chief-11705662\">https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/world-news\/explained-whatsapps-username-update-and-what-it-means-for-your-privacy-whatsapp-new-feature-kunal-shah-chief-11705662<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-06-30 00:54:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.ndtv.com\">www.ndtv.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>WhatsApp chats may soon feel more like Instagram, only with stronger privacy controls.<\/p>\n<p>The Meta-owned platform is preparing to introduce usernames, letting users connect without sharing their phone numbers, making interactions more private and less intrusive.<\/p>\n<p>The update marks a shift from the current system, where anyone with your phone number can contact you. WhatsApp, which says it has more than 3 billion users globally, has until now relied on phone numbers as the main way to connect.<\/p>\n<p>The upcoming feature is &#8220;designed to protect the privacy of your phone number,&#8221; the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The latest update comes as Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah takes charge of Meta&#8217;s WhatsApp, with the company looking to tap into the platform&#8217;s vast global reach and evolve it into a &#8220;superapp&#8221; to capture a larger share of fast-growing online payments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His appointment coincides with Meta&#8217;s $900 million investment in his venture CRED, in which he will retain a roughly 20% stake while stepping back from an executive role.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What Changes With This Update?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>With usernames, your phone number will no longer be automatically visible in certain situations. These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When you are added to large group chats<\/li>\n<li>When you message a person for the first time<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Restricting access in this way means your number stays private unless you choose to share it.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How Will Usernames Work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Users will be able to pick a unique username that others can use to contact them instead of a phone number.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Usernames must be between three and 35 characters<\/li>\n<li>At its core, it&#8217;s designed as a privacy feature rather than a social media identity. There&#8217;s no searchable directory or suggestions.<\/li>\n<li>People will need to know your exact username to contact you for the first time<\/li>\n<li>A user can set a &#8220;username key&#8221; to control who can contact them. First-time messages via their username require this key, adding an extra&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndtv.com\/world-news\/explained-whatsapps-username-update-and-what-it-means-for-your-privacy-whatsapp-new-feature-kunal-shah-chief-11705662\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explained: WhatsApp&#8217;s Username Update And What It Means For Your Privacy, Whatsapp new feature, Kunal&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":283872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2026-06\/98v8mj0g_whatsapp-username-afp_625x300_30_June_26.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-283871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283873,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283871\/revisions\/283873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}