Maybe it’s become so normal that you don’t even think about it anymore: if you use WhatsApp, others can always see your phone number.
This data protection issue may end soon, because WhatsApp is working on a special update.
Instead of “tracking” someone using their WhatsApp phone number, it may soon be possible to contact only people whose WhatsApp usernames you know.
As wabetainfo announced, the messaging service is currently working on entering individual usernames. This may make the use of phone numbers within the messenger unnecessary.
Since your private WhatsApp phone number is (still) visible to others, it is possible to be ‘tapped’ and misused. An individual username cannot be determined so easily. If there are no longer any phone numbers displayed, no more abuse will occur – at least not on WhatsApp.
However, one feature should be kept: the end-to-end encryption that chats are subject to. However, the update is still under development and will initially only be available to beta testers before later becoming available to all users.
