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.
Usernames: A new identifier on WhatsApp that lets you connect with people without sharing your phone number.
Why did WhatsApp 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 but can help scammers reach you outside of the app.
Users wanted a way to prevent sharing their phone number with strangers in many contexts in the app including in large groups. 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, WhatsApp also wanted to be future-proof by allowing non-phone number based registration and sign in options. 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, which now includes usernames.My scope
Reservation and creation flows on 2 different apps: business and consumer
Naming the username key
See case study
Leading alignment across orgs, teams
Supporting UXR & help center organization
Upsells on Instagram and Facebook
Value prop positioning for consumer vs business
See case study
Accessibility
Localization
My role:
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.
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, marketing, engineering and content on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook.
Results
Username reservations launched in June 2026. Full feature capabilities will launch later in the year. No metrics available yet.
