WhatsApp is making one of its biggest ever changes, moving on from requiring phone numbers.Soon, the app will allow people to register a username, and share that with people they want to chat to instead.The company is promoting the feature as a privacy change, intended as a way of allowing people to protect their phone number because it is “personal and it’s tied to so many parts of your life”. It pointed to examples such as meeting someone new or joining a group, both of which require a user to make public their phone number when they might not wish to share it with strangers.It stressed that the usernames are not intended as a social media handle, since there will be no way of searching a directory of people or suggestions of who to add. It also does not have to be the same as other social media sites, including those owned by parent company Meta, such as Instagram or Facebook.But it does work in much the same way. Users will reserve one username and then be able to give that out to new people, allowing them to add someone and start chatting.It will become the new default when it is enabled. As such, any new conversations will be started from the username rather than showing the phone number.From today, users will be able to reserve a username by updating to the latest version of WhatsApp and heading to the Settings section, clicking account and then username. The feature will not actually roll out until “later this year”, and users will be alerted when they are live.“For most people, choosing a WhatsApp username should be something unique that only people you want to contact you will know,” WhatsApp said in its announcement. “If you need help picking one, we have a username generator to make one work just for you.”The company will also allow creators, small businesses and organisations to be able to claim their existing Instagram or Facebook username on WhatsApp.