WhatsApp Adds New Ways to Update Your Contacts, Plans Username Support

WhatsApp is expanding where and how you can add and update your contacts list, with a goal of eventually allowing you to add new contacts using a username without needing a phone number. In a Tuesday blog post, WhatsApp said that initially the chat app will allow for updating your contacts list from the service’s web and Windows applications, with plans to expand to other linked devices later.

Currently, contacts have to be managed using the primary phone that a WhatsApp account is set up on, but the expansion to other devices should allow for more flexibility. WhatsApp is also adding the ability to save contacts directly to the service, which the announcement suggests can be helpful when one phone is being shared with others or for managing personal alongside business WhatsApp accounts. 

These features will become available in the next few weeks, WhatsApp said, but the addition of adding contacts by username will be a longer-term goal that the service will detail further when the feature is closer to launch. It’s notable because it will allow for people to create conversations without necessarily giving away additional personal information, which on WhatsApp is typically a phone number. This goal for adding username support follows in the steps of Signal, which added a similar feature earlier this year, and could provide a privacy boost as other texting services adding similar functions.

Meta’s other chat app, Messenger, has long been separated from the Facebook app and has allowed for adding contacts who aren’t also your Facebook friends by using a search function or a QR code. But unlike WhatsApp, which has had message encryption available by default, Facebook’s Messenger has been transitioning its service to have encryption on by default over the past year. The fellow Meta-owned Instagram includes encryption as an optional feature, and also allows for texting others without necessarily following them on the service.