Usernames on WhatsApp

  • Owned end-to-end content design for a new identity system across consumer and business messaging apps.

  • About 2 ½ years from early discussions, research, framing UX options to WhatsApp leads to execution mode and final launch.

  • Launching one of the most sought after features on WhatsApp that unlocks privacy for phone numbers on a global scale.

This project took over 2 years of iterating, sweating the details and aligning multiple org leads.

Usernames: A new identifier on WhatsApp that lets you connect with new people without sharing your phone number.

Why did we need this feature? 
Phone numbers on WhatsApp are an essential part of the app. People use it to sign up for an account. A country code helps signal if a scammer or a real person is trying to reach you. It  means personal identity and can help scammers reach you even outside of the app. 

Yet users didn’t have a way to prevent sharing their phone number with strangers in many contexts including in large groups. The number is the main identifier on the app and there was no way to hide it. We repeatedly saw in research that this caused harm for users and WhatsApp alike. Increased spam, unwanted messages and privacy risks (especially for vulnerable groups like women in India) for users meant a lower privacy sentiment toward the company. 

In addition to the privacy aspect, WhatsApp also wanted to be future-proof by allowing a non-phone number based registration and sign in option. This project required large scale engineering efforts to update WhatsApp's back-end infrastructure. Over 2 years, the app's infra changed from phone number based to logical identifier based that now includes usernames.

This feature touched everything from privacy, integrity, legal and policy to Meta's family of apps (Facebook and Instagram) with constant communication and alignment with the eng team. It's rolling out on both WhatsApp consumer and small business apps starting June 2026.

My childhood favorite and Bollywood star Aamir Khan promoting usernames on WhatsApp!!

Tl;dr:
As the lead content designer owning all things usernames, I led end to end content strategy on the reservation, creation and activation flows on both WhatsApp consumer and business apps.

I distinguished value props for each app, worked with designers and marketing partners on both apps to keep language consistent and conversational while also validating designs with users over a span of 2 years - often needing to iterate and update the experience.

I owned username upsell campaigns on Instagram and Facebook. I collaborated with DS & PMM to understand global audience cohorts and how their relationship to WhatsApp should impact the content positioning on IG and FB.

This major update to the app required years of organization, documentation and aligning across multiple teams. I owned and drove alignment for design updates with multiple UX leads from product, legal, policy, security, engineering and content on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook.

Overall scope:
- Usernames on WhatsApp business and consumer apps
- Upsells on Instagram and Facebook
- iOS, Android and web surfaces across all apps

Creation flows
Reservation flows
Cross-platform account linking (Meta Accounts Center linking >WhatsApp to IG/FB or IG/FB to WhatsApp)
Privacy controls
Naming/terminology
Value prop positioning
User research
Error handling
Localization
Help center organization

Results
Username reservations launched in June 2026. Full feature capabilities will launch later in the year. No metrics available yet.

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