WhatsApp logo on Android phone's screen.
Credit: REUTERS FILE PHOTO
With more than two billion active users, WhatsApp is the most popular messenger app on all major platforms such as Android, iOS, Windows and more.
The primary reasons for the success are that WhatsApp comes with a simple user interface, value-added features such as group chats, user privacy-centric disappearing messages, generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI)-based Meta AI tools to generate images, editing tools and more.
Now, the Meta-owned company is planning to bring an optional premium plan, reported WABetaInfo, a community blog, citing the latest Android beta v2.26.4.8.
The new subscription includes exclusive stickers, app themes, the ability to pin more than three chats, app icon customisation, and a dedicated set of new chat ringtones.
Given that the new subscription is optional, there is no compulsion for users to pay any fees to operate WhatsApp.
Optional Premium features coming soon WhatsApp.
Credit: WaBetaInfo
As long as the existing features continue to be free, people will continue to use it. They are also free to move on to new platforms, as there is no dearth of messenger apps in the market. To name a few, there is Telegram, Signal, Arattai and more.
It should be noted that Meta (formerly Facebook) purchased the WhatsApp Messenger for a whopping 19 billion dollars in 2014. And, since then, it has been a free-to-download app.
It is no surprise that Meta, almost a decade later, is planning to monetise it. A few years ago, it tried to monetise the user data exchanged between a private individual and a business account on WhatsApp, but faced strong reactions from users and governments around the world .
Just recently, the Supreme Court of India panned Meta and asked the company to either follow the user privacy policy of the country or exit, but will not allow monetising user data.
With fees on premium services, Meta can legally monetise the Messenger service in India and other regions in the world.
It remains to be seen how much the subscription fees will be on WhatsApp; how soon it will be implemented, and what the customers' reactions will be.
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