From time to time, WhatsApp adds new features to improve the user experience.
There are many recent examples. From positive elements, such as polls in channels or muted statuses or voice chats, to negative elements, such as goodbye to free backups in Drive.
Today it’s time to talk about one of the good ones, since it turns out that WhatsApp is launching an update that allows users to link their account to an email address.
The reason? Simple: allow you to authenticate on WhatsApp using email verification instead of the classic SMS common that has been in operation for years. This feature was already available in the beta version and now it seems that the rollout is beginning in the stable version.
As pointed out in WaBetaInfo echoed by 9to5Mac, version 23.24.70 of WhatsApp for iPhone, published today in the App Store, adds the email verification function.
As you can imagine, it does not eliminate SMS verification, but it adds a very useful alternative to log in to WhatsApp in an area without network coverage, for example.
All you have to do is touch the tab Your profilewalk into Account and then give Email address.
Regarding data privacy, WhatsApp makes it clear that the email address will only be used to access the account and will not be visible to other users nor will it be used for any commercial purpose.
Keep in mind, however, that the email address is only used for authentication, so you still need a valid phone number to use WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has been developing a new feature that will allow users to set a username that can be shared with others instead of a phone number, but this option has not yet been released.
At the moment nothing is known about the Android versionbut it will surely end up landing in the coming weeks.
As is usual in this type of deployment, if you still do not have this feature, be patient, as it is gradually being included in all capable devices.
