Why do websites use “email” and “username” interchangeably as log-in credentials?
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A username is just something that uniquely identifies a user. It could be a random sequence of numbers, a first initial and last name, or a user-selected name. In some cases, the “username” might actually be a phone number or street address. The one thing that matters is that it is unique.
As long as it is unique and the system can properly associate the user to the username/account, that is all that matters.
Email addresses are unique, and it allows [“[email protected]](mailto:”[email protected])” to be different from “[email protected]”. It also means that there is a built-in recovery email address. So using an email address makes perfect sense.
As a matter of fact, you usually use your email address as your username when logging into your email!
Note that many sites do have usernames that are not email addresses including Reddit. And, there are sites that allow you to have a username that is different than your email, but you can use either to log in.
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