WhatsApp has been working on adding support for usernames for some time now. The feature hasn’t been released publicly yet, but the service has introduced an interesting new feature.
In the latest beta version of WhatsApp for Android (2.24.18.2), you can set a username PIN so that people you haven’t previously contacted can’t send you messages if they know your username.
This sounds like an incredibly useful feature that should cut down on spam (which is a common problem with WhatsApp these days). With a PIN, if someone you haven’t interacted with on WhatsApp before wants to message you, they’ll not only need to know your username, but also your PIN (which will need to be at least four digits long).
On the other hand, conversations with people you are already in touch with will continue as if nothing has changed, even when usernames are rolled out to everyone.
Unfortunately, there’s no word on when the username feature and PIN support will come out of beta, but given WhatsApp’s usual development time, we’d be surprised if these features arrived before the end of the year.
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