WhatsApp to drop $1 subscription fee

Mobile messaging application WhatsApp is to drop its annual subscription fee which costs Irishusers $1 a year.

The Facebook owned app allows users to communicate with each other for free. Users can download the app for free for one year, but thereafter must pay an annual subscription fee of $1. According to the latest Ipsos MRBI Social Messaging Quarterly, 37 per cent of Irish people had a WhatsApp account as of August 2015.

According to a blog post on Monday, WhatsApp is dropping the subscription fee as “we’ve found that this approach hasn’t worked well” pointing to the number of people without a debit or credit card number.

“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,” the company said.

As an alternative revenue driver, WhatsApp will introduce some form of third-party ads.

“Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organisations that you want to hear from”.