WhatsApp is building a setting that lets people with a username decide who can see their phone number. At the moment the number is simply hidden from anyone who has not saved it, and the new option would let you loosen that.
The setting would sit in the privacy menu next to last seen and profile photo, with four choices: Everyone, My contacts, a contacts-minus-some-people list (My contacts except) and Nobody. Nobody would be the default, so anyone who wants today’s behaviour has to do nothing. People who already have your number saved will keep seeing it in chats and calls whichever option you pick.
It is not yet switched on even for beta testers, so nothing can be tried today, and WhatsApp has not given a release date. WABetaInfo found the screen in version 2.26.45.1 of the Android beta app.
The reason to want it is practical. Someone might use a username so strangers can find them without handing out a number, yet still want their saved contacts to see it. Another person might want to hide it from a handful of people in their contact list. The “My contacts except” option covers that second case.
Changing the option comes with a warning. Switching to a different choice resets the exceptions list, so people you had excluded earlier could see your number under the new setting. WhatsApp asks for confirmation before it applies the change.
This builds on earlier beta work. An older test build added a username field to the contact creation screen, so a person can save someone by username next to a name and number. Together, the two changes point to WhatsApp treating the phone number as something you share on purpose rather than by default.
Usernames themselves are still rolling out gradually. People can already reserve one, but the feature has not reached everyone, and WABetaInfo suggests this setting could be one of the last pieces before it does.
