Last week, the news broke: a leak revealed that WhatsApp is preparing the possibility of having a username. This way, the service would stop relying entirely on phone numbers to be able to locate users, only being able to locate someone by name.
It’s a nice privacy breakthrough that puts WhatsApp on par (at least in this regard) with what Telegram has been using for years. This is good news for our privacy, but beware: it is also the announcement of a real fight.
So we can get our whatsapp username
Just remember a number to understand it: more than 2 billion people actively use WhatsApp in the world. SO, usernames like @fernando or @pedro are going to be everyone’s target. Not only from those who are called Fernando or Pedro, but from those who want to do business with them. It happens on Twitter, it happens on Instagram and it can happen on WhatsApp.
Imagine what can go wrong if WhatsApp suddenly releases this option. Everyone would rush to reserve the username they use on other networks. The beta may allow you to do this first, although there is no data to back this up.
From what our colleagues from Xataka Android have been able to discover, reserving a username on WhatsApp will consist of accessing its control panel and consulting our profile. There we will have the option ‘Choose a username’that we can share with other contacts without having to give our phone number.
It’s unclear when WhatsApp will release their usernames, but we’ll be watching when they do. As this is going to involve us fighting over usernames, I wouldn’t be surprised by an announcement that was a bit more bombastic than usual or a sort of mechanism that regulates this reserve by name so no one gets too clever. We’ll see, because otherwise I’m going to have to fight against tens of thousands of Migueles.
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