WhatsApp will now be completely free to use

WhatsApp one of the most popular IM messaging app around the globe owned by Facebook, previously used to charge users a small fee of $0.99/year after the first year of use which was free.

However, WhatsApp announced that it was officially killing the small fee making the app completely free to use. “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.” WhatsApp said on its official announcement, “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.”.

WhatsApp also goes on to address another major thought that comes to mind. With WhatsApp killing its seemingly only source of revenue, users might expect it to bring in third party ads to substitute the revenue. But WhatsApp confirmed that this will not happen but rather starting this year it will be testing new tools to help you communicate with businesses and organizations you want to hear from. “That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight. We all get these messages elsewhere today — through text messages and phone calls — so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp, while still giving you an experience without third-party ads and spam.”

This new change is definitely going to lead to positive growth for the platform on a global scale.