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WhatsApp Begins Rolling Out New Username Feature

Whatsapp FeatureWhatsApp has started rolling out its new username feature, reports WABetaInfo. Some users who reserved their username have started receiving a notification that their username is active, and that they can now use it to send and receive messages to other users without revealing their phone number.

When someone creates a username, WhatsApp will notify people who already have an active chat with that person. WhatsApp has no directory of usernames to browse, and no username discovery suggestions, so people will need to know a WhatsApp user's exact username to send a message.

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Top Rated Comments

9 weeks ago
Good to see this. Would have been great if WhatsApp does not require a phone number to sign up and has an option to use only username.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9 weeks ago
Finally making something more useful.
The whole phone number only thing was not a good idea. Threads is the perfect version of Facebook had it not been connected to Instagram 😤 all of them needs to be solo products.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9 weeks ago
I grabbed first initial/surname as soon as I heard about this a couple of weeks ago. My name isn't that common but I'm still waiting to receive messages for someone else at some future point.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9 weeks ago
I think since they are "rolling this out" there as not been any guarantee that your Facebook or Instagram username are saved for the user. I read somewhere that if it is not available, someone else was able to get it.

That is just dumb IMO. If you have your FB or IG username, you should be able to choose one of those and be done. You should have first rights.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
paulvee Avatar
9 weeks ago

How does one go about fixing it?
I wish I could tell you. I got tired of the endless re-directs and sign-ins, the redundant 2FA prompts, and then the lack of clear instructions. I usually can fix anything, but I got tired of devoting so much time to this, so I gave up. Meta definitely doesn't care about user experience anymore.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
paulvee Avatar
9 weeks ago
Their obtuse, bolted-on security and sign-in procedures make me think that they are devoting few resources to their bread-and-butter apps, certainly the back end stuff. It's all going into MetaAI now. Trying to just ditch FB and IG altogether.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)