LONDON (AP) — WhatsApp users will soon get the option of going by usernames instead of phone numbers, the company said Monday, announcing plans to address a privacy blind spot.
The app said it has started allowing users to reserve unique usernames, which can be used to contact WhatsApp users when the feature is launched later this year.
WhatsApp, which says it has more than 3 billion users globally, has until now allowed users to be contacted by anyone who has their phone number.
The app, owned by Meta Platforms, said in a blog post that over the “coming months” users will get the option to be found and contacted only by their username, and not their number. It wasn't more specific about the timeline.
“We have designed this as a core privacy feature,” Alice Newton-Rex, WhatsApp's vice president of product, told reporters.
There won't be a directory of usernames on the app, and the app won't suggest names as you type.
“People will need to know your exact username to contact you for the first time,” she said.
WhatsApp's current privacy settings are limited to blocking individual users and silencing unknown callers. The app also allows users to add a profile name, but that's only displayed in chat groups for other people who don't have the user's contact info saved.
While Americans still prefer text messaging to WhatsApp, the app is widely used in Europe, Asia and much of the rest of the world.
Catchy online handles are highly coveted and users will likely scramble to claim a desirable one.
“I think a lot of people will go and get usernames and that’s why we decided to open reservations early,” Newton-Rex said.
Companies, organizations and creators with existing accounts on Meta's social media platforms, Instagram and Facebook, will get the chance to claim their usernames on WhatsApp.
Usernames need to be between three and 35 characters. To prevent impersonation, WhatsApp will hold back usernames for high-profile people or groups such as celebrities, public figures and government entities.
FILE - A WhatsApp icon is displayed on an iPhone, Nov. 15, 2018, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
KIMANA, Kenya (AP) — The carcass of one elephant lies on a dusty road, while another has been almost completely eaten by scavengers, leaving just the skull. They are among 16 elephants that died last month in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park from suspected cyanide poisoning after eating tomatoes in nearby farms.
Investigations are ongoing into how cyanide found its way into an ecosystem where wild and domestic animals coexist. Growers have disputed claims that cyanide from their tomatoes killed the elephants.
The elephant deaths and disputes about the cause have intensified concerns over growing human-wildlife conflict in the region due to expanding agricultural activities near Amboseli park. Kenya has until recently been widely recognized for rebuilding its elephant population from historic lows to more than 36,000 individuals by reducing poaching.
Kenya's Wildlife Service said last month that 15 elephants had died in the Amboseli ecosystem in a span of a month. The service updated the numbers to 16 on Friday. Preliminary laboratory tests detected cyanide, while postmortem examinations found tomatoes in the animals’ stomachs.
The wildlife service on Friday said it requested the Pest Control Products Board to establish a team to investigate whether the chemical “may have been improperly used, stored, or disposed, and whether water, soil, or grass may have been contaminated.”
The head of veterinary services at Kenya's wildlife agency, Dr. Isaac Lekolool, said the elephants had shown signs of “paralysis and difficulty breathing” before they died. Initial tests pointed to cyanide poisoning, although further laboratory tests are being done to determine the concentration of cyanide.
“We are yet to find out where this cyanide came from,” Lekolool said, adding that the elephants had also consumed watermelons. He urged caution over the handling and use of pesticides on farms.
Elvis Muchai has farmed on the edge of Amboseli for two decades. In all that time, he said, he has never heard of farmers poisoning wildlife, and he was skeptical that farmed tomatoes believed to have been contaminated with the chemical were to blame for the elephants' death.
Muchai, who farms tomatoes in Kimana area, said local communities have long coexisted with elephants despite suffering repeated crop losses when the animals cross the park’s electric fence and raid farms, particularly during the dry season.
“We are used to the animals eating from our farms,” he said.
Kimana, which borders Amboseli, is one of Kenya’s most productive agricultural areas, growing tomatoes, onions and French beans that are transported to markets to the capital, Nairobi.
The samples tested for toxic chemicals were obtained from the elephants' stomach contents and the analysis of blood samples is ongoing, Lekolool said. He disputed earlier claims that cyanide, which is regulated by the government for use in mining, may have been present in the park due to illegal mining.
Farms have expanded near the park and conflict between people and elephants remains the second leading cause of deaths after poaching, according to Kenya’s National Elephant Plan. Between 2000 and 2020, at least 1,160 elephants died in incidents linked to self-defense or retaliatory killings as communities sought to protect their crops, property and lives, the Plan notes.
But Duncan Juma, communications director of Kenya’s wildlife service, ruled out human-wildlife conflict in the death of the elephants, saying “the community loves these animals.”
The International Fund for Animal Welfare, or IFAW, said the recent suspected cyanide poisoning highlights the urgent need to tackle the underlying causes of human-wildlife conflict.
“As people and elephants increasingly share space, protecting wildlife and safeguarding communities’ livelihoods must go hand in hand,” IFAW wrote in a statement.
IFAW’S East Africa director Ben Wandago said the reported cyanide poisoning must be “urgently and thoroughly investigated” and recommended that coexistence solutions to protect communities living near the park be implemented.
“This tragedy also underscores the urgent need for the strict control and responsible handling of highly toxic substances to prevent them from entering the natural environment,” he said.
Farmers are doubtful that the cyanide could have originated from commonly used agricultural inputs.
Muchai said he has never encountered cyanide among the pesticides or chemicals sold to farmers in the area and insisted that products available on the market are regulated by the Kenyan government.
“The chemical they are talking about, we’ve never seen it or heard of it here,” he said.
Last season alone, Muchai said elephants destroyed about half an acre of his tomato crop, costing him an estimated 500,000 Kenya shillings ($3,800).
“We have lived with these animals for years. They eat our crops, and many of us have never received compensation,” he said.
Another farmer, Rymondy Mrosso, also questioned whether pesticides used by local farmers could explain the deaths and wondered why only elephants appeared to have been affected.
“We have goats, cows and other wildlife such as gazelles that also feed in these areas,” he said. “If the crops were poisoned, why were only the elephants affected?”
For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
A herd of elephants walks across Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Farmers spray pesticides at a tomato farm in Kimana, on the outskirts of Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
An elephant walks past a homestead in the Kitenden village, on the outskirts of Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Women harvest tomatoes in a field in Kimana, on the outskirts of Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
The carcass of an elephant suspected to have died from pesticide poisoning lies in the Kitenden village, on the outskirts of Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County, Kenya, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
