WhatsApp allows you to set a username/name to allow others to recognize you.
Your WhatsApp username/name will be shown in groups.
You can see other people’s usernames by navigating to the group and tapping on the name of the group.
The people that don’t have your contact information saved in their contacts will see your username.
If someone already saved your contact information, they’ll see your name that they’ve saved instead.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to find your WhatsApp username on iPhone or Android and why can’t you see someone’s username.
- How to find your WhatsApp username on iPhone
- How to find your WhatsApp username on Android
- Why can’t I see someone’s WhatsApp username?
How to find your WhatsApp username on iPhone
- Open WhatsApp and tap on “Settings” on the bottom navigation bar.
- Tap on the section that contains your profile picture.
- Your WhatsApp username is located under your profile picture.
After you’ve tapped on the section that contains your profile picture, you’ll land on the “Edit Profile” page.
On the page, you’ll be able to edit your WhatsApp profile.
You can edit your WhatsApp profile picture, username/name, and status.
You can also see your phone number that is registered.
If you want to change your WhatsApp username, tap on the text field under your profile picture and edit it.
Lastly, tap on “Done” to save it.
The maximum number of characters that you can use for your username is 25.
The minimum number of characters, however, is 1.
Do note that you don’t have to use your real name.
How to find your WhatsApp username on Android
- Open WhatsApp and tap on the three dots.
- Tap on “Settings”.
- Tap on the section that contains your profile picture.
- Your WhatsApp username is located under “Name”.
You can change your WhatsApp name by tapping on the pen icon.
After you’ve tapped on the pen icon, choose a username and save your changes.
You can also edit your profile picture and status.
The username that you’ve set will be visible to your WhatsApp contacts.
If you’re in a group chat, other group members will be able to see your username.
However, they will only be able to see your username if they haven’t added you as a contact.
If they’ve added you as a contact, they’ll see the name that they’ve set instead.
Why can’t I see someone’s WhatsApp username?
You can’t see someone’s WhatsApp username because you added them as a contact on your phone.
If you added someone as a contact, you’ll see the name that you’ve set for them instead of their WhatsApp username.
When you add someone as a contact, you need to enter their name.
Let’s say that you’ve entered their name as “Jane Doe”.
If so, you’ll see the person’s name as “Jane Doe” in a group chat instead of their username.
This is because the person’s name in your contact list will override their username on WhatsApp.
Hence, when you check the participants in a group, you might notice a mixture of names and numbers.
You can only see someone’s WhatsApp username if you haven’t added them as a contact on your phone.
Their username will be located at the bottom right of their card.
Conclusion
If you want people to easily recognize you on WhatsApp, you can set your full name as your username.
However, if you want to remain anonymous, you can use a nickname instead.
WhatsApp has multiple features that allow you to remain anonymous.
Other than setting a nickname, you can disable certain privacy settings.
A privacy setting that you can disable is the “Last Seen” setting.
You can set the “Last Seen” setting to “Nobody” so that no one can see when you’re last online on WhatsApp.
In addition to the “Last Seen” setting, you can set your profile photo and status to “Nobody” or “My Contacts”.
If you set a privacy setting to “My Contacts”, only your contacts will be able to see it.
Further reading
How to Fix WhatsApp Reactions Not Working
