WhatsApp Usernames and WhatsApp IDs: What’s Changing

WhatsApp usernames

A username is a name like @yourshop. On 29 June 2026, WhatsApp opened username reservations: anyone can reserve one in WhatsApp under Settings → Account → Username.

The next step, messaging by username, has started to reach some customers. WhatsApp is rolling it out gradually and tells people in the app when it reaches them. It hasn’t announced a schedule or a list of countries.

Once it reaches a customer, they can message a business without revealing their phone number.

When you’ll still see the phone number

WhatsApp still shows your business a customer’s phone number if any of these is true:

Your business messaged that number in the last 30 days.The customer messaged your business in the last 30 days.The customer is saved in your WhatsApp contact book. Meta keeps this contact book separately for each business.

The 30 days count separately for each of your WhatsApp numbers. If you’re thinking of changing or adding a number, read “Changing your WhatsApp number and your Meta contact book” first.

What a WhatsApp ID is

For every customer, WhatsApp also gives your business a WhatsApp ID: a code that identifies that customer for your business only.

It stays the same if the customer changes their username.It changes if the customer changes their phone number.It only works for your business. Another business or tool can’t use it.It isn’t a phone number, and nobody can turn it into one.

How Mersal handles it

Mersal recognises each customer by their WhatsApp ID, with or without a phone number.

Where the phone number would appear, Mersal shows “Phone number not shared”, plus the customer’s @username if they have one.Conversations work as normal: same thread, same history, same 24-hour reply window.Chatbots and automatic replies don’t respond to these customers for now. Your team replies to them from the Inbox, as normal.Marketing and utility campaigns still reach these customers on WhatsApp.Marketing opt-outs are kept, even if WhatsApp later stops sharing a customer’s number.

Hidden numbers are still rare, so for now you may have few or no contacts without a phone number. That’s expected.

Key takeaways

Messaging by username has started to reach some customers, who can now message you without showing their number.You still see the number after a conversation in the last 30 days, or if they’re in your contact book.Mersal recognises every customer by their WhatsApp ID, with or without a number.

Frequently asked questions

No. Your contacts and conversations stay in Mersal, and you can keep talking to customers on WhatsApp whether or not they share their number.

Yes, if they’ve set one. When a customer hasn’t shared their number, Mersal shows their @username in its place, and you can search contacts by @username.

No. It’s a code that identifies the customer for your business only. Nobody can turn it into a phone number, and it doesn’t work for any other business or tool.

Yes. Username reservations opened on 29 June 2026, and messaging by username has started to reach some customers. WhatsApp is rolling it out gradually and hasn’t announced a schedule.

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