Can I add someone on WhatsApp without a phone number?

Huge changes are coming to WhatsApp, which is part of the American multinational company Meta.

In a wave of changes, users will have a whole new way to add friends on the messaging platform in the update and will even be able to receive messages from other platforms, but there's a big catch.

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A new way of connecting

One of the new changes is that users will be able to receive messages from other apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and iMessage.

There will be an option available to toggle this feature off though, if people want to keep things simpler.

Another change is that users will be also able to add friends by using their usernames in a game changing shift.

Previously WhatsApp users have only been able to add friends through their phone numbers.

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The only other option available was using the app's QR code feature.

A big catch

However, the ability to receive messages from other apps will only be available in the European Union because of the EU's Digital Marketing Act (DMA).

One of the laws contained in the DMA bans "gatekeeper services", which will force apps to able to accept messages from other platforms.

However, due to differences in UK law, WhatsApp won't be required to offer this same ability in Britain.

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Brits will be able to use the other new function though, which will allow them to add friends through their usernames.

That particular feature is expected to be rolled out "over the coming weeks".

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A long wait

The cross-platform feature is only in its beta-testing phase which means EU users will have to wait to use this capability.

Cross-platform capabilities have been in development at WhatsApp for two years, but questions are being asked about how the new capabilities will work with WhatsApps encryption software.

WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption which makes it extremely difficult for hackers to interpret conversations between users.

A third party platform may not necessarily have this encryption.

That has raised eyebrows, because some people feel that it might make conversations more vulnerable to hacking.

Dick Brouwer, engineering director at WhatsApp, told Wired: “There’s real tension between offering an easy way to offer this interoperability to third parties whilst at the same time preserving the WhatsApp privacy, security, and integrity bar."

The EU maintains that the new laws will ensure market fairness and argue that the new laws help create fresh competition.