It seems like only yesterday you had to spend 10p just to send a simple “yes” message to your mate.
Launched over six years ago, WhatsApp changed all that entirely, and has become the primary method of communication for nearly anyone with a smartphone.
By sending messages over the internet, the messaging app made it free to contact people all over the world, only charging users a subscription fee of $0.99 after their year-long free trial ended.
But even though less than a dollar might seem like a cheap price for such a service, the company have announced they are scrapping the fee entirely.
In a blog post on Monday, WhatsApp explained they will not be charging users any more, and also ruled out the possibility of third-party advertising on the app in order to raise funds.
Instead, the company say they will ‘test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that 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.’
So long as we don’t have to pay, we’re on board.
