The change
In 2026, WhatsApp rolled out optional `@handles`: a stable username independent of phone number. Users can keep their number private and still receive messages by handle, and businesses can publish a memorable `wa.me/@acme` link instead of a +44-something string.
For AI Identity, this is structurally the same problem we've always had with Telegram (`@bot` handles plus `bot_username`s), just landing on a much larger user base.
What we updated
The `wa:` surface scheme on every AI Identity now accepts both forms:
wa:+44...— phone number (as before, fully backward compatible)wa:@handle— username, new in 2026
Both register the same way in the dashboard and verify against the same WhatsApp Business Cloud API metadata. If an operator owns both forms, both can be registered against the same identity — verifiers will accept either at lookup time.
Why the surface scheme matters
A surface URI in AI Identity is not just a string. It's the canonical way one party can ask "is this account the registered operator of identity `aii_01HX...`?" without having to call us at all. The scheme prefix (`wa:`, `tg:`, `mcp:`, `openclaw:`, `gpt:`) tells the verifier which protocol-specific lookup to perform.
Adding a second valid form for `wa:` was deliberately a small change because it had to be: thousands of WhatsApp business numbers were already registered and we don't move the goalposts on existing operators.
Knock-on for impersonation detection
The richer side-effect: WHOIS now flags when an unverified WhatsApp `@handle` shows up claiming to act on behalf of a reserved Likeness. That's a real attack pattern — squat the handle, impersonate the brand. The [Likeness Reserve](/likeness) catches it because it indexes both the handle and the brand name and surfaces collisions on the same WHOIS query.
Install guide
The full WhatsApp integration guide — phone numbers, handles, business display name verification — is at [/spec/integrations/whatsapp](/spec/integrations/whatsapp). The same pattern applies to anyone hosting a Telegram bot at [/spec/integrations/telegram](/spec/integrations/telegram).
A note on stability
Surface schemes are stable. We add new accepted forms for existing schemes (like `wa:@handle`) but we don't rename them. If you registered a WhatsApp number against an identity in v0.7, it works identically in v0.7.8.7 and will work identically in v1.0.