The developers of the popular messaging app, WhatsApp Messenger have announced they’re dropping the subscription fees that they charged users after their first free year of service. The company says many of its users didn’t have credit or debit cards to use to continue with the service.
“That’s why we’re happy to announce that WhatsApp will no longer charge subscription fees. For many years, we’ve asked some people to pay a fee for using WhatsApp after their first year. As we’ve grown, we’ve found that this approach hasn’t worked well. Many WhatsApp users don’t have a debit or credit card number and they worried they’d lose access to their friends and family after their first year. So over the next several weeks, we’ll remove fees from the different versions of our app and WhatsApp will no longer charge you for our service.”
The messaging service says it won’t be introducing third-party ads, but will instead be monetizing the service in a different way. WhatsApp will begin testing tools that will allow users to use the app to communicate with businesses and organizations, “that you want to hear from.” The company says such interactions could include communicating with your bank over a fraudulent transaction, or with an airline about a delayed flight.
The new monetization features should begin to rollout “over the next several weeks,” to each platform the app is on. The WhatsApp Messenger app can be downloaded free for iOS device in the App Store. [GET IT HERE]
