{"id":289211,"date":"2026-07-14T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/whatsapp-introduces-usernames-to-strengthen-privacy\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T00:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T04:50:09","slug":"whatsapp-introduces-usernames-to-strengthen-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/whatsapp-introduces-usernames-to-strengthen-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp Introduces Usernames to Strengthen Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/colombiaone.com\/2026\/07\/13\/whatsapp-usernames-beyond-phone-numbers\/\">WhatsApp Introduces Usernames to Strengthen Privacy<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/colombiaone.com\/2026\/07\/13\/whatsapp-usernames-beyond-phone-numbers\/\">https:\/\/colombiaone.com\/2026\/07\/13\/whatsapp-usernames-beyond-phone-numbers\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-07-14 00:30:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"colombiaone.com\">colombiaone.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>WhatsApp has over 3.3 billion monthly active users globally, making it the most popular messaging platform in over 169 countries. Credit: Image created with ChatGPT<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WhatsApp will allow users to connect through a username instead of sharing a phone number, adding a privacy feature already available on several rival messaging platforms. Meta announced that the option will begin rolling out gradually during the coming months, starting with a reservation period for usernames before the wider launch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The change does not eliminate the need to register an account with a phone number, but it gives users another way to start conversations without revealing that personal information. The company says the feature is designed to make it easier to communicate with classmates, businesses, creators and people met through everyday activities while keeping phone numbers private.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-whatsapp-usernames-add-a-new-privacy-layer-without-replacing-phone-numbers\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">WhatsApp usernames add a new privacy layer without replacing phone numbers<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new system lets each user choose a unique username that others can use to start a conversation. Instead of exchanging phone numbers, people will be able to share that identifier when adding a new contact. Existing chats and contacts will continue to work as before, and phone numbers will remain linked to every account behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meta says usernames are optional rather than mandatory. Users who prefer the traditional system can continue sharing their phone number exactly as they do today. Those who adopt the new option will reserve a unique handle through the account settings once the feature becomes available in their country. Existing usernames from Instagram or Facebook may also be transferred to WhatsApp, helping people and organizations maintain the same identity across Meta\u2019s platforms.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">your phone number is personal and sometimes you want to connect without handing it over. that&#8217;s why we&#8217;re introducing usernames for WhatsApp.<\/p>\n<p>starting this week, you can reserve a username to use later this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/colombiaone.com\/2026\/07\/13\/whatsapp-usernames-beyond-phone-numbers\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WhatsApp Introduces Usernames to Strengthen Privacy https:\/\/colombiaone.com\/2026\/07\/13\/whatsapp-usernames-beyond-phone-numbers\/ Publish Date: 2026-07-14 00:30:00 Source Domain: colombiaone.com WhatsApp&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":289212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/colombiaone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Whatsapp-Username.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289211","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\/289211"}],"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=289211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289213,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289211\/revisions\/289213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}