It is certainly a novelty that will make many users happy because it further raises the level of privacy and joins what happens, always on Telegram: soon on WhatsApp It will be possible to chat without necessarily having to provide your telephone number but only the username (also called username).
Respect for privacy
The new possibility is present only for the Beta Tester of iOS and in the development phase. As we know, to start conversations on WhatsApp, it is always necessary to share your telephone contact with major confidentiality problems especially when interacting with people who have recently known but also for all spam and scam contacts. In fact, once shared, our telephone number can end up in the wrong hands also in the apps that generate harassing calls.
The turning point towards anonymity
By allowing communication through user names, WhatsApp directly faces these problems by putting an end to many inconvenience: the new system, in fact, will give each of us the opportunity to be able to choose a unique identification name (as happens on Telegram and Signal) by replacing the telephone number in individual chats and in groups. In this way everyone can send messages without ever revealing their number unless you decide to do it.
The new system
According to the first rumors, precise rules will be used for the username: first of all, there must be at least one letter and it cannot be shorter than three characters and greater than 30; It seems that only tiny letters will be included while you can choose any number from 0 to 9 as well as the addition of the punctuation signs and underlining characters. Finally, you will not be able to have a username like the addresses of the websites, so you cannot start with “www.” And it will not be able to end with “.com”. As happens in other social networks (see Instagram), two identical users will not be able to exist so as to reduce confusion, prevent identity theft and minimize the risk of scams.
Once a valid username is created, WhatsApp will confirm the choice with a celebratory coriander animation: the new username will be visible in private and group chats by replacing the user’s phone number.
If you want to change, updating it, your username, WhatsApp will automatically inform other users in conversations to ensure clarity and continuity. The date for release to the general public has not yet been established but it seems that it can take place in the coming weeks.