Why You Should Stop Texting On Your iPhone Or Android Phone
It's time to stop texting
This is the biggest shake-up to texting and messaging in years. And for Apple and Google, it risks undermining any security and privacy assurances made around RCS. Make no mistake — this could be the best reason yet to stop texting on your phone.
We have known for some time that WhatsApp is working on a username alternative to phone numbers. This is already live on Telegram and Signal and it's a game-changer. It means you can give contacts a username that's unique to the messaging platform without giving away your phone number. It also means you can stop people finding you by your phone number, preventing spam and scam messages.
WhatsApp is going even further — and it's a brilliant move. As reported by the beta insiders at WABetaInfo, 'WhatsApp plans to introduce an optional PIN code feature linked to usernames, which will be required for others to initiate a new conversation with the user. This PIN will immediately 'reduce unwanted messages.'
Set against the backdrop of surging smashing attacks across the U.S., which has prompted further FBI warnings this weekend, creating a protected messaging enclave in which you control access is exactly what's needed.
PINs and usernames coming to WhatsApp
And while there may be verified business contacts operating in a controlled manner, that's very different from the current free-for-all with Chinese OCGs running riot across SMS and RCS. Yes, advances are being made in filtering spam and scams on-device, but it's proving too easy for attackers to bombard SMS and RCS networks.
Texting will always have this phone number vulnerability, and RCS which has promised so much is being let down with the increase in spam and marketing. As such, it's likely that texting will gradually be relegated on phones to an also-ran, as more protected, opt-in messaging platforms filter out all the noise. And no platform has more chance of making this work than WhatsApp, with its 3 billion users.
The big hope for texting has been fully encrypting RCS, which is expected this year. There has been speculation that Apple will provide new news at WWDC. But I would be very surprised to see Apple headline anything on RCS, given that it's not a core Apple capability on iPhone and runs in parallel to iMessage. Google would have been much more likely to announce updates and changes at I/O.
Make no mistake — 2025 is a huge year for messaging. Scams are spiraling out of control even as Google peddles the growth and benefits of RCS. WhatsApp is running its biggest ever marketing campaign on its privacy merits and has just released an iPad app after a decade of promises. Usernames and PINs dropping soon would be seismic for the sector, giving you the best reason yet to move wholesale from texting.
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