WhatsApp allows users to track names, not phone numbers | Technology News

WhatsApp says the service is designed to give its three billion users a new way to stay connected.

WhatsApp will allow users to use names instead of phone numbers, closing a long-standing privacy gap on the app used by more than three billion people.

Platform with Meta it said on Monday that it has started allowing users to reserve unique names ahead of a wider rollout later this year where people can choose to be found and connected with their own hands.

WhatsApp he said the change was made as a private privacy policy with no public names and no-one-on-one views, meaning users would need to know someone’s real name to reach them for the first time.

WhatsApp provides end-to-end encrypted messaging on smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. So far, it has allowed users to communicate with anyone who has their phone number.

The app said in a blog post that in the “coming months”, users will be able to access and connect with their username, not their number. It wasn’t too much of a time.

“We’ve made this a top priority for privacy,” Alice Newton-Rex, WhatsApp’s vice president of product, told reporters.

“People will need to know your real name to contact you for the first time,” he said.

WhatsApp privacy settings are only for blocking individual users and blocking unknown callers.

The app also allows users to add a username, but this is only displayed in social media groups with no saved information.

Pushing for unique names

While people in the United States still prefer messaging on WhatsApp, the app is widely used in Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world.

Web links are often abandoned, and users can struggle to find what they are looking for.

“I think a lot of people are going to go get usernames, that’s why we decided to open early booking,” Newton-Rex said.

Companies, organizations and producers who have existing accounts on the social networks Meta, Instagram and Facebook, will have the opportunity to share their usernames on WhatsApp.

Usernames must have between three and 35 characters. To prevent imitation, WhatsApp blocks the names of famous people or groups, such as celebrities, famous people and government organizations.