Right now, someone could be reserving your company's name on WhatsApp. Reservations for WhatsApp Business usernames opened on 29 June 2026, handles are first come, first served, and most businesses have not noticed. Stopping it costs nothing and takes about five minutes.
This guide shows you how to reserve your WhatsApp Business username in WhatsApp Manager, what to check before you start, and what "Account not eligible" means if you see it. If you would rather watch than read, the one-minute version is below.
A WhatsApp Business username is a handle such as @yourbrand that customers can type into WhatsApp to start a conversation with you, without needing your phone number. Once active, customers who do not have your number saved see the username instead of the number in chats, groups and calls[1].
Three things it does not do, and each one trips people up:
Meta shows business identity in a fixed order in chats: the name the customer saved you under, then your verified business name, then your username, then your phone number[2]. So a verified business shows its name to new customers, with the username as the way to reach it.
WhatsApp has more than 3 billion monthly users[3], and every one of them can now claim a handle. Usernames are unique across the whole platform: once a handle is taken by any account, consumer or business, nobody else can use it[1].
Three things matter:
You may be able to claim the same username you use on Instagram or Facebook but there's a limited time to do so.
Source: WhatsApp Help Center, About username reservations on WhatsApp Business
Reserving is free, and you can change or delete the handle later. Even if you have no plans to use WhatsApp for business this year, holding your brand's handle protects it. Think of it the way you thought about registering your domain name.
This guide covers the WhatsApp Business Platform route, which is the one you are on if WhatsApp runs through a system connected to your CRM rather than the WhatsApp Business app on a phone. For that route you need:
If you want to claim a handle that is already in use on your Facebook Page or Instagram account, you also need full control of that Page or account, because Meta asks you to link the phone number to it first[2].
The whole process happens in one panel. These are the exact clicks as they appear today:
You can also do this in Meta Business Suite under Settings, Accounts, WhatsApp accounts, and developers can do it through Meta's Username API. The full click paths, error codes and format rules are in our knowledge base guide, Reserve your WhatsApp Business username in WhatsApp Manager.
If you click Create and WhatsApp Manager says Account not eligible, your business portfolio is almost always still on the starter messaging limit. It is not a judgement on your business; it is a tier. The fastest fix is completing Meta Business Verification, which is also the step that unlocks higher sending volumes and shows your business name to customers. Scaling the limit by sending volume works too, but takes longer[4].
Meta applies the same format rules to every handle[2]:
| Rule | Allowed | Rejected |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 3 to 35 characters | Anything shorter or longer |
| Characters | English letters, digits, full stops, underscores | Accented characters, spaces, hyphens |
| Letters | At least one letter | Numbers only |
| Full stops | Between characters | At the start or end, or two in a row |
| Web addresses | Plain brand handles | Starting with www. or ending in .com, .org, .net |
| Case | Ignored for uniqueness | Full stops and underscores are not: my.id and my_id are different |
Two practical points. Each phone number holds one username, so a business with several numbers needs several handles. And some handles are held by Meta for businesses, governments and public figures and cannot be claimed at all[1].
Your username shows one of two statuses[2]:
You can change or delete the username later, but a released handle may become available for others to claim, and there is a limit on how many times you can change it[1]. On the Platform, a username can be moved between phone numbers in the same portfolio, which is useful when you graduate from a test number to a production one.
The bigger change sits on the customer side. When a consumer adopts a username, their phone number is hidden from any business they have not messaged recently, and Meta identifies them by a business-scoped user ID instead. If your CRM workflows key on phone numbers, that matters. We covered it in depth in WhatsApp usernames are coming: what your business needs to do now.
Usernames are first come, first served, the hold on your Facebook and Instagram handle has no published end date, and reserving costs nothing. Open WhatsApp Manager, find the Username section on your number's Profile tab, and claim the handle your customers would expect.
Once customers can reach you at @yourbrand, the question becomes what happens next. Flowella turns the forms you already use into WhatsApp Flows, so a message to your handle can become a booking, a qualified lead or a completed form in your CRM without anyone typing details into a chat. Start a free trial or read the full username guide on our knowledge base.