WhatsApp works on incoming usernames in the app

It’s been a hectic past few weeks for WhatsApp’s developer team. A few days ago, blocking chats with a password, Touch ID or Face ID officially arrived. And we also know that posts are being edited for official release in the coming days. Thanks to the public betas of the development versions of WhatsApp, we can also know that They are working on the arrival of usernames. Thanks to this function we could talk to people without needing to know their phone number,

something we can do a long time ago on Telegram, for example.

Speak by username and not by phone: soon on WhatsApp

Usernames are almost the keystone of authentication on the Internet today. Thanks to usernames, personal and non-transferable, we can identify people in the vast majority of social networks. However, some platforms use another method of identification such as phone numbers, as in the case of WhatsApp. Currently we can only talk to users whose phones we have stored in our contacts.

This should change in the coming months. Apparently WhatsApp is testing new ways to identify you. And among them is the arrival of usernames,

a function that has been available on other messaging platforms such as Telegram almost since its inception. This information comes from WABetaInfo, which is responsible for trackear the news of beta versions that WhatsApp makes available to users attached to the beta program.

In the new beta version for Android has been included an option to configure the username.

Nothing more. Most likely WhatsApp is working on how to integrate it into its app. This is undoubtedly a way to ensure user privacy. But behind that is organizational complexity, like how to manage conversations with private companies to avoid spamming users.

It is likely that It will take some time for this feature to reach the final version. But the fact that it’s starting to appear on Android means WhatsApp is working on it. The next step is the arrival of the beta version of iOS and, finally, if Meta considers it a viable function, its subsequent announcement to become an official WhatsApp option, who knows if sooner or later .