As WhatsApp approaches the official rollout of usernames, the app now lets users save a contact’s username alongside their name and phone number. Here are the details.
Although it is a commonplace feature on most messaging platforms, WhatsApp has only recently begun to move away from relying exclusively on phone numbers for user identification.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp started rolling out a username reservation system to give users a chance to claim their preferred handles and avoid scam impersonations before usernames officially launched.
Then, a few weeks ago, it started activating usernames for select iPhone users.
Now, as spotted by WABetaInfo, the app is starting to roll out support for a username field when users create a new contact. The username field appears between the first and last name fields and the phone number section.
The new field shows up in a screen most users already know. Users can tap the “+” button in the navigation bar of the Chats tab. Here, they need to select “New contact” at the top of the list. The contact creation screen looks the same as before, but users will notice a new addition. In particular, WhatsApp just added a username field right alongside the name and phone number. Users who already have a username due to the recent rollout can tell other people to save it together with the rest of the contact details. When usernames become widely available, WhatsApp will also populate this field automatically as soon as users create a new contact from the chat info screen.
WABetaInfo notes that the username field appears to be rolling out to select users on both the beta and stable versions of WhatsApp.
In my testing with the latest stable release, the field appears, but it returns a “This username is not on WhatsApp” message even when the username exists.
That said, this is yet another step toward WhatsApp finally catching up with the competition by adding what many consider a basic feature that has long been missing.
To read WABetaInfo‘s full report, follow this link.
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Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.
He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.
