Usernames follow simple format rules: 3 to 35 characters, using Latin letters, numbers, periods, and underscores, with one handle per account and uniqueness across all of WhatsApp. The phone number does not disappear: it still registers the account behind the scenes.
The rollout began in 2026: businesses could start claiming handles on June 29, the first country wave went live on July 7, and in-app reservation opened globally in July, with availability expanding country by country through the rest of the year.
For brands, a username is both a land-grab and an asset: @yourbrand becomes printable, clickable, and consistent with other social handles, and it lowers the opt-in friction for customers reluctant to share a phone number. On the API side, customers who adopt a username appear to businesses as a business-scoped user ID (BSUID) instead of a raw number.
