WhatsApp has decided not to ask its users for an annual subscription of 89 cents. With a post on the official blog, accompanied by the statements of the founder of the app Jan Koum, the company announced its intention to make WhatsApp free for everyone and forever (although, in reality, the cost remains, as you will discover in this article). It is a return to the past. Because, as some will remember, the application was born at no cost, then introduced only in the following years.

WhatsApp founder Jan Koum made the news public on Monday, explaining that the choice was made to remove a “barrier” that did not allow many users to access the service.

“It didn’t work very well,” explained Kou speaking at the DLD conference in Munich. While a dollar a year might not seem like a lot, he added, access to credit cards isn’t as widespread. “We don’t want people to think at some point that they are cut off from communicating with the world.”

WhatsApp is free but remains ad-free

Up until now, WhatsApp has only been free for the first year, and then moved on to a cost of 89 / cent per year (except for exceptions). An apparently small figure but which, multiplied by the hundreds of millions of users around the world, guaranteed WhatsApp a nice profit.

As for the new business model (somehow it will have to keep earning as well), WhatsApp explained that it will explore new ways companies can use the service to connect with people, but stressed that spam will continue to be avoided. and unwanted advertising.

Here is the official note from WhatsApp on the company blog:

“People may be wondering why we’re going to keep WhatsApp running without asking for subscription fees and if today’s announcement means we’re introducing advertisements. The answer is no. Starting this year, we will test the tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses […]. This could mean communicating with the for a recent fraudulent operation, or with an airline for a delay on a flight. Today we receive these messages in another way – through text messages and phone calls – we want to test new tools on WhatsApp to make everything easier, while still offering an ad-free and spam-free experience. “

If your subscription is about to expire …

If your subscription is about to expire in the next few days and WhatsApp asks you to renew it by paying, fear not. It will take some time for the payment service on WhatsApp to be deactivated for all users. So, either you wait for it to come back active on its own or make the payment and WhatsApp will return the amount you spent as soon as the deactivation of the payment also reaches your mobile phone. All this, remembering to update the app .

WhatsApp is free, but …

The announcement that WhatsApp becomes free forever and for everyone will give a little joy to the many users who did not look favorably on a subscription for a service that others offer without asking for anything. In reality, however, WhatsApp has a cost (especially calls ) and not many realize it. Of course, these are very small amounts, and maybe it’s worth it… how would we do without WhatsApp?