BSUIDs for WhatsApp identity resolution and messaging continuity overview
AI-generated summary
Genesys Cloud is enhancing its platform to support Meta's new WhatsApp privacy capabilities, which introduce Business-Scoped User IDs (BSUIDs) and username-based interactions that allow users to communicate with businesses without sharing phone numbers. BSUIDs function as business-portfolio-specific backend identifiers that maintain message continuity and customer identity relationships without being exposed to agents or end-customers. Meta's Contact Book, enabled by default since April 26, 2026, stores phone number and BSUID mappings at the portfolio level to preserve conversation continuity in webhook payloads and API responses.
Genesys Cloud's implementation ensures that inbound and outbound WhatsApp messaging continues functioning as currently configured, with agents observing customer identifiers displayed as either phone numbers or WhatsApp usernames depending on user preference and availability. The platform handles BSUID management transparently using Meta's backend identifying model to preserve customer matching and conversation continuity. For most Genesys Cloud customers, no immediate action is required, as existing WhatsApp messaging workflows will operate as expected. However, organizations using custom downstream integrations, reporting logic, or external systems that assume phone numbers are always present should review these workflows to accommodate the updated identity model.
Phase 1 prioritizes core messaging continuity and customer identity presentation for agents while preserving all existing agent workspace functionality. Phase 2 will address additional capabilities including GDPR-related workflows that enable customer record management using WhatsApp-specific identifiers such as usernames, expanded UI username support, contact-sharing features such as phone number request templates, and vCard functionality for efficient contact information exchange. For outbound WhatsApp campaigns, phone numbers remain the primary identifier for initiating new conversations, as BSUIDs are designed to preserve continuity for existing customer relationships rather than replace phone number-based targeting for new outbound messaging. Genesys recommends enabling Meta's Contact Book feature in the Business Portfolio to preserve customer identity continuity, and existing phone-number-based targeting workflows should remain unchanged while supporting users who adopt username-first privacy experiences.
This article elaborates how Genesys Cloud supports Meta’s new WhatsApp privacy capabilities.
The information presented in this article is based on the BSUID feature and related enhancements introduced by Meta. As Meta continues to evolve the BSUID feature, Genesys Cloud may update its functionality accordingly to ensure uninterrupted and consistent WhatsApp messaging support. Watch this space for the latest updates and enhancements related to BSUID support in Genesys Cloud.
What Meta is changing?
Meta is introducing new WhatsApp privacy capabilities that allow WhatsApp users to use a username in place of sharing their phone number in some business interactions. As part of this change, Meta will also provide a Business-Scoped User ID (BSUID), which is a unique identifier assigned to each user-business relationship to help maintain continuity in business messaging.
In practical terms, this means that in some WhatsApp conversations, a customer’s phone number may no longer be consistently available to businesses. Instead, businesses receive a Meta-generated identifier in the background so that conversations can continue reliably.
Why is Meta making this change?
This update is designed to give WhatsApp users more control over their privacy while preserving a consistent experience when they engage with businesses. Customers who choose to use usernames can interact with a business without always making available their phone number, while Meta’s BSUID provides the underlying identifier needed to support message delivery and ongoing conversation continuity.
How Genesys Cloud is addressing this change?
Genesys Cloud is enhancing to support the new WhatsApp identity model, so your messaging experience remains consistent as Meta rolls out usernames and BSUIDs.
With this update:
Inbound and outbound WhatsApp messaging will continue to function as it is today.
Agents see a slight difference in the customer-identifier, such as the customer’s phone number when available, or their WhatsApp username when the phone number is not shared.
Genesys Cloud will use Meta’s backend identifying model to help preserve customer matching and conversation continuity.
Note: Backend identifiers such as BSUID are managed by the platform and are not made available to agents or end-customers.
What does this mean for your business?
For most of the Genesys Cloud customers, no immediate action is required. Your existing WhatsApp messaging in Genesys Cloud will continue to operate as expected. You may, however, notice that in some conversations a username is displayed in place of a phone number when a WhatsApp user chooses not to share their phone number.
If you use custom downstream integrations, reporting logic, or external systems that assume a phone number is always present for WhatsApp interactions, you may want to review those workflows to ensure that they can handle this updated identity model.
Additional considerations for campaign and compliance use cases
As Meta rolls out usernames and BSUIDs, Genesys Cloud is prioritizing support for core WhatsApp messaging continuity first. Additional capabilities, including GDPR-related workflows, expanded UI visibility for username support, and customer contact-sharing support such as supported phone number request template flows and contact card or vCard handling will be addressed as part of Phase 2 later this year.
For outbound WhatsApp campaigns, customers should continue using the phone number as the primary identifier for starting conversations. Meta’s BSUID does not replace the phone number for starting new outbound messaging. Instead, BSUID is intended to help preserve continuity for users who have already interacted with your business and later adopt a username-based privacy experience. If your outbound campaign workflows depend on phone-number-based targeting, they should continue to do so. However, as Meta’s privacy model evolves, customers may want to review related workflows and downstream systems to ensure that they remain aligned with this updated identity model.
To help reduce disruption, Genesys strongly recommends that customers keep Meta’s Contact Book feature enabled in their business portfolio. The Contact book for WhatsApp setting can be found in your Meta Business Portfolio under Business info as shown in the following screenshot. Contact Book can help preserve customer identity continuity by retaining phone number and BSUID mappings for users who interact with your business after the feature becomes available. According to Meta, once Contact Book is enabled and populated through new interactions, webhook payloads, and API responses can continue to include the user’s phone number and BSUID even if that user later adopts a username-first privacy experience.
Phase 1
As part of phase 1, the current enhancement immediately focuses on preserving core messaging experience in Genesys Cloud, including customer identity presentation for agents and continuity of WhatsApp conversations as Meta’s new identity model is introduced.
Phase 2
Other Meta and platform capabilities related to WhatsApp usernames may become available in phase 2. Genesys Cloud will continue to align with the WhatsApp platform as those capabilities mature.
If you have any questions, contact your Genesys Cloud representative.
FAQs pertaining to BSUID implementation in Genesys WhatsApp messaging
Meta is introducing a new feature username for WhatsApp users and a backend identifier called BSUID that identifies the relation between the username and the business portfolio. This feature allows WhatsApp users to message businesses with their username without the necessity of always sharing their phone number, while still giving platforms and businesses a way to maintain message continuity.
The change primarily offers user privacy. WhatsApp users can choose to display a username instead of exposing their phone number in some business interactions, while Meta uses BSUID in the background to preserve a stable identity for that user and the business they interact with.
A Business-Scoped User ID (BSUID) is a Meta-generated identifier that uniquely identifies a WhatsApp user for a specific business portfolio. It is intended to support message delivery and conversation continuity when a phone number is not available.
Genesys Cloud already supports WhatsApp as a messaging channel, and the intent of this update is to ensure that WhatsApp conversations continue smoothly as Meta’s identity model evolves. Genesys documents WhatsApp support in the agent workspace today, and public product documentation also covers WhatsApp business messaging capabilities.
Based on what identity customers choose to display as their identifier in a business interaction, agents see either the customer’s phone number or username. Other than the display of username instead of phone number, all other functionalities remain unchanged.
No. BSUID is a backend identifier and it is not exposed in the day-to-day user experience. Customer-facing and agent-facing experiences remain centered on recognizable identifiers such as phone number or username.
Note: The backend identifiers such as BSUID are managed by Genesys platform and are not intended to be visible to agents or end customers. However, in some cases, you may temporarily see contacts with BSUID identifiers during the transition phase. This is expected, and in such cases, Genesys will normalize these as part of future releases. Our current focus is on ensuring messaging continuity.
No. Phone numbers still exist, but depending on what users chose to display as their identity whether phone number or username, Meta may not always include them in business messaging events. In such cases, BSUID becomes the stable identifier used in the background for message continuity.
No. Meta states that BSUIDs are business-scoped, meaning they are tied to a particular business portfolio and are not universally reusable across unrelated business portfolios.
No. Meta states that if a user enables usernames, their phone number may not be included unless certain conditions are met, such as recent interaction history or the user being present in Meta’s Contact Book for that business portfolio.
Meta’s Contact Book is a feature released on April 26, 2026, designed to help preserve messaging thread continuity as WhatsApp usernames are introduced. This feature is enabled by default for all Meta Business Portfolios.
When your business sends or receives a message or call using a user’s phone number, Meta stores that user’s phone number and BSUID in the Contact Book at the portfolio level.
This ensures that even if a user later enables usernames and their phone number is no longer shared in webhooks, their previously captured details can still be used to maintain continuity in webhook payloads and API responses.
If your organization has implemented standard Genesys Cloud, no immediate action is required. However, if your organization has custom integrations in CRM logic, middleware, exports, or automation that assume WhatsApp interactions always include a phone number, those integrations must be reviewed for compatibility with this new identity model.
The objective of Meta’s BSUID model is to preserve identity continuity in messages even when a phone number is not shared. Genesys Cloud is positioning support for this change so that the conversation continuity is maintained regardless of whether the phone number or username is displayed for the WhatsApp user.
Outbound WhatsApp campaigns run by businesses require the customer’s phone number as the primary identifier for starting conversations.
Meta’s BSUID does not replace the phone number for starting new outbound conversations or campaigns. Instead, BSUID helps preserve message continuity in cases where an user has already interacted with the business using a phone number and later adopts a username-based privacy experience that limits the phone number availability.
If your outbound campaign workflows rely on phone-number-based targeting, they should continue to do so. To help maintain continuity for users who later move to a username-first experience, customers should keep Meta’s Contact Book feature enabled where possible.
A WhatsApp username is not a valid identifier for initiating a new outbound conversation.
Under Meta’s model, outbound conversations must be initiated using the customer’s phone number. The BSUID does also not serve as a replacement for a phone number when starting a new outbound interaction.
BSUID supports continuity of an existing customer-business relationship when the customer has already interacted with the business, particularly if the user later chooses a username-based privacy experience and their phone number is no longer consistently available.
During phase 1, Genesys will not support GDPR API for processing WhatsApp usernames. In phase 2, Genesys will extend support for GDPR-related activities so that customer records can be found and managed using WhatsApp-specific identifiers such as WhatsApp username, in addition to phone number. This is intended to support compliance workflows such as search, export, update, and delete, even where phone numbers are not available due to WhatsApp privacy settings.
A vCard is a digital contact card used to share contact information, such as a phone number. Support for vCard or contact-sharing scenarios are planned as part of Phase 2 in Genesys Cloud.
No. Inbound WhatsApp calls are not affected by the usernames and BSUIDs. Genesys Cloud agents can continue to answer the inbound WhatsApp calls as they answer today. However, in some scenarios where Meta provides the BSUID instead of the customer’s phone number in the inbound call signalling information, Genesys Cloud may not be able to automatically perform identity resolution of those calls to the existing customer contact record. When this occurs, the agent can still answer and handle the call, but the customer identifier shown in the agent experience may appear as the BSUID instead of a phone number or WhatsApp username. This may create a less recognizable agent experience, but it does not prevent the inbound call from being delivered or answered.
Genesys is prioritizing to support the changes in core WhatsApp messaging user identity as part of Phase-1, that is, username or phone number display. Improvements to inbound WhatsApp calling identity resolution will be addressed in Phase-2.
