WhatsApp now free, company to make money in other ways

WhatsApp will become totally free and no longer offer paid subscriptions. The company announced that in a blogpost on their website. Previously WhatsApp stated that by offering paid subscriptions it could protect the privacy of its users. If the app would have been free, the users would be 'the product', the company argued.

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It appears the, now Facebook owned, company changed its mind.

Previously WhatsApp charged its users up to 89 cents per year after a free first year. According to the company that didn't work out. Many users already has a lifetime free subscription and other users were irregularly asked for a payment. Also the fact that many users don't have a creditcard also limited the potential growth in paid subscriptions and thus the revenue of the company.

In the future the company hopes to make money from connecting companies to consumers using the app. It's unclear how that exactly would work, as the company hasn't disclosed any further details than, "that could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight."

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The company stresses that despite that the app is free now, it will not show third-party ads or will start to spam users.

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