Overview

• Recent beta builds reveal active work on a username interface designed to shield actual phone numbers from view.
• New usernames will appear instead of phone numbers in chats where users are not in each other’s address books.
• Handles must be 3 to 30 characters long with at least one letter and may include only lowercase letters, numbers, periods and underscores.
• WhatsApp will drop a system message into chats to notify contacts whenever a user changes their username.
• Users will eventually be able to check username availability via WhatsApp Web while Meta’s internal address book system prevents duplicates.