How to reserve and change your WhatsApp username

Meta-owned chat app WhatsApp started to roll out username reservations for its 3 billion users earlier in June. The username feature is not active, but you can claim your username and start using it whenever the feature becomes available this year.

With usernames, people will be able to share their WhatsApp contact without having to disclose their phone number. This could be useful for people who want others to contact them on WhatsApp but don’t want to share their information or their phone number. For businesses, it might be easier to share a name than a phone number to their customers.

Here is how you can reserve your username:

• Go to Settings > Account and tap on the Username option under the “Your Account” section.
• If you are setting up your username for the first time, you will get a “Create username” option, and then you can type in and choose your username.
• If the username you chose is not available, WhatsApp will suggest some variations if you tap the “suggest a username” option.

WhatsApp is reserving certain usernames of public figures and entities, so you won’t be able to reserve them for yourself. If you already have a Facebook or an Instagram username, you can log in through either of the services and reserve your handle as a username too.

Once you set the username, you can go to the same menu and change it by tapping on the “Edit” button in the top right-hand corner. Alternatively, you can delete your username.

WhatsApp also allows for an extra layer of protection with a username key. You can limit people who contact you from “Everyone” to “People who know my key” from the username menu. This means that people who know your username will also type in a four-digit key before contacting you for the first time. Users can save the key or generate a new key at any time.

The username feature will go live in the coming weeks. Until then, WhatsApp is only allowing people to claim their usernames to avoid duplication.