Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- WhatsApp continues to be actively engaged on implementing help for usernames as a substitute for sharing cellphone numbers.
- The messaging app might let customers optionally set PINs to stop anybody with their usernames from contacting them.
- Customers will probably get to decide on whether or not newly initiated chats show their cellphone numbers or usernames to the opposite events.
WhatsApp has been engaged on supporting usernames for months. The messaging app might quickly permit customers to go for distinctive handles to achieve others with out sharing their cellphone numbers. A brand new WhatsApp beta construct has now revealed that the corporate may additionally let customers set PINs to restrict spam and undesirable interactions.
In response to WABetaInfo, WhatsApp beta for Android model 2.24.18.2 references PIN help when organising a username. If the characteristic involves fruition, it is possible for you to to pick out a PIN as an non-obligatory security measure. This manner, these together with your WhatsApp username will nonetheless want the chosen digits to provoke a chat with you.
This characteristic might make it difficult for spammers and different dangerous actors to contact you, as you’ll all the time be capable to change your PIN if somebody posts it publicly. WhatsApp may additionally allow you to flip off the PIN altogether if you wish to make your profile extra simply accessible.
Past PINs, WhatsApp will probably let customers select whether or not new chats reveal their usernames or cellphone numbers. By choosing the previous identification technique, customers can conceal their cellphone numbers utterly, making WhatsApp a extra personal messenger.
Remember that WhatsApp usernames and PINs are nonetheless below improvement, and these options are unavailable to beta testers but. Consequently, there’s no telling when and if the corporate will roll them out to its customers.
