Your @handle (and changing it)

Your handle is your public name — shareable, mentionable, and changeable. Your account underneath never changes, so a rename never costs you your history.

Handle vs. account

The handle (@you) is how people find you, mention you, and reach your profile page. It's a name, and names can change.
Your account is the permanent thing the handle points at. Everything you own — posts, messages, Connections, purchases, memberships — attaches to the account, never to the name. Rename freely; nothing you've built moves an inch.

Changing your handle

It lives in the Danger Zone at the bottom of your profile settings — not because it's destructive (it isn't), but because it changes how the world addresses you, and that deserves a deliberate click and a confirmation.
The change is immediate: sign-in, your page, and new mentions use the new handle right away.
Your old handle rests for 30 days. Nobody — person or organization — can claim it during the rest, so a fresh rename can't be instantly impersonated. After the rest it returns to the open pool.

The honest edges

Old links age. A link someone saved to your old handle stops working the moment you rename (and after the rest, could belong to someone else). Share the new one where it matters.
Handles are a–z and 0–9, starting with a letter, 3–32 characters — lowercase always, so there's never a @You vs @you confusion.

Good habits

Renaming right before something big (an event, a launch)? Post the new handle from the old audience first — moves announced beat moves discovered.

Did you know? Organizations have handles too — and until an org claims one, its short org id works as its address automatically, so every org page has a shareable link from day one.