Popular Instant Messaging service WhatsApp has announced its plans to axe its subscription model. The company used to charge $0.99 to selected users but now it will be free to all users.
For years WhatsApp has stopped charging its yearly fees to its users in developing countries like India. The company used to offer first year for free and then charges $.99.
The company used to charge yearly fees to users having debit card facility. The makers of the App said that they are removing the subscription model due to unavailability of payment methods in many counties.
WhatsApp has also said that it will not introduce third-party ads on its instant messaging client. Instead that they will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations
WhatsApp in a post said:
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.
WhatsApp is available on Apple iPhone, Android smartphones, Windows Phones, BBOS and Java devices for free.