If you want to use WhatsApp, you need a mobile phone number and a SIM card. That's how it has been until now. A new update now promises a revolution.
Kassel – Without WhatsApp, some smartphone owners can hardly imagine life. It has just become known that Germans send far fewer SMS than was the case at the beginning of the millennium due to messenger services such as WhatsApp. While the information recently came that WhatsApp messages can soon be edited retrospectively on the basis of a new update, the latest news about a possible further update makes you sit up and take notice.
Will WhatsApp soon work without a mobile phone number at all? Mega update is apparently imminent
Accordingly, it should soon be possible to use WhatsApp completely without a phone number. Only a username should still be necessary, as the blog "Wabetainfo" reports. In the past, data protectionists had often warned that in the case of a conversation via WhatsApp, the chat partner can currently view the telephone number of his counterpart.
Name: | WhatsApp Inc. |
---|---|
Foundation: | 2009 (since 2014 part of the Facebook group Meta) |
Function: | Instant messaging service |
Office: | Mountain View, California (USA) |
Number of users worldwide: | > 2 billion in 180 countries (according to their own figures) |
No more mobile phone number needed for WhatsApp: beta version should already be in the test phase
However, the viewing of the telephone number will soon come to an end, it is said, as the online portal rtl.de reports. There is even talk of an entire revolution in the report. It is said that there are more and more rumors that the function is already being tested by users in some beta versions.
If you want to use WhatsApp, you need a mobile phone number and a SIM card. That's how it has been until now. A new update now promises a revolution. © Arno Burgi/dpa/Archive
It is said that the messenger platform will be made more accessible to users in the future, namely on the basis of usernames and not telephone numbers, which is repeatedly criticized by data protectionists. Users would then no longer search for and find each other via telephone numbers, but via the new user names.
Using WhatsApp without a mobile phone number: Update is currently still in the developer's shoes
The update is still in the developer's shoes, as it is said. But there is already a beta version in the Google Play Store that could be used in this way. However, it is not yet entirely clear what the scope of the update will ultimately be. For example, the question of whether consumers will really be able to use WhatsApp without a phone number in the future is still unresolved, or – as has been the case so far – whether a phone number is at least required for registration.
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The aim of the new update is to improve the protection of privacy. This would be achieved if, in addition to the use of the user name, the telephone number could also be hidden. This is already possible with the messenger service Telegram. Another feature will soon make life easier for WhatsApp users. (jon)