>WhatsApp founder Jan Koum announced Monday that the company is dropping the service’s annual subscription fee in an effort to remove the barriers some users faced in using the service.
>“It really doesn’t work that well,” Koum said Monday, speaking at the DLD conference in Munich. He noted that while a buck a year might not sound like much, access to credit cards is not ubiquitous. “We just don’t want people to think at some point their communication to the world will be cut off.”
>Until now WhatsApp has been free for the first year and 99 cents for additional years. (It will stop charging subscription fees immediately but it will likely be a few weeks to fully take the payments infrastructure out of all versions of the app. And, in case you are wondering, you won’t be able to get back your buck if you have already paid for this year.)
>Naturally, people might wonder how we plan to keep WhatsApp running without subscription fees and if today’s announcement means we’re introducing third-party ads. The answer is no. Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from. That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight. We all get these messages elsewhere today – through text messages and phone calls – so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp, while still giving you an experience without third-party ads and spam.
>This strategy might sounds familiar. It’s the same idea behind Facebook Messenger, the company’s other standalone messaging service.
https://recode.net/2016/01/18/facebook-owned-whatsapp-to-drop-subscription-fees-for-its-popular-messaging-service/
Still want to be in that botnet, Whatsapp goyim?
Bonus Degeneracy: The author of this article is a Jewish man who "transitioned" into being a "female". Yes, an actual Jewish tranny wrote this.
well it's still encrypted
>the company is dropping the service’s annual subscription fee
Did anyone ever pay for it? I always got those "WE WILL START CHARGING YOU SOON" messages, but never actually paid a dime.
Also I can't leave the botnet because it's my main form of communication with friends/family. I won't go preaching Telegram to them either.
>>52489466
>encrypted
>>52489466
>he thinks closed source software can be proven to be encrypted.
kek
>>52489450
>Yes, an actual Jewish tranny wrote this.
Pol was right?
So my ISP will tell me shit through whatsapp instead of using the old regular text messages?
What's exactly wrong about this? If anyone has my number, I can be contacted through whatsapp. I can block them, of course, but that never stopped any business before.
>>52489543
Maybe they could send you important messages and if you read them they count as delivered, so it's even harder to hide from fucking retards that want your money
>>52489450
I don't see the point of Whatsapp. It seems like it is only used by western pigs. I use LINE to message my cousins.
So they will sell your phone number to all the companies?
>>52489491
Suck it scrub, my entire family and friends use Telegram because of me and all prefer it to WhatsApp.
>tfw everyone in my country uses whatsapp
>want to switch to signal
>ask fellow CS friend to try it out with me for a while
>"nah I'm not gonna install another app just to chat with you"
>mfw
>>52489648
>not Signal
>>52489576
Retards that want my money?
So wait a minute, should my internet connection be free? My bills and such? Should I never pay taxes, even?
Or are you just suggesting that it would be better to be able to take advantage of "lol didn't read" in case you have committed fraud at some point?
Hell at this point, if they did what this guy >>52489630 suggests, why couldn't they just do it before with your phone number? How do these companies not have your contact info?
>>52489576
You can already do that with email.
>>52489543
in NL you can contact webshops through Whatsapp with customer service questions.
I've done it a few times and it's definitely better than calling/mail, also always had an answer within 15 minutes, and an active conversation when was necessary.
>>52489450
>Yes, an actual Jewish tranny wrote this.
Hoooleeey fuck.
>>52489491
I paid for a 5 years subscription like 2 years ago. I can't understand who doesn't pay for a service like this, is .90€ a year and 3.5€ for 5 years, if I want to have a breakfast in a cafe I spend more
>>52489648
My goddamn department used it now.
Everyone should just use fucking irc nodes.
How hard can it be to program a nice irc GUI for a mobile?
>>52489696
It's not about not wanting to pay, it just never charged me anything. Always said it would, never did.
>>52489648
I feel bad for your family, they have to use another app for your autism
>>52489685
Yeah, same here.
My point is, by reading this:
>we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from
>that you want to hear from
It's obvious it's not just giving access to random companies out the butt. But what this would allow is precisely what already exists for some webshops like you mentioned.
It just sounds weird to see people react like "oh no, companies are now going to sell my phone number" because of this. Not to mention whatsapp is not an application you are forced to install on your device in order for your service providers to contact you.
>>52489630
>So they will sell your phone number to all the companies?
yes
>>52489648
That's what they tell you so you won't get all retard strong and start punching them in a tard stupor. In reality they still use whatsapp.
>>52489466
Media messages are stored in plain text on the servers, and there's no end-to-end encryption which you can verify the identity of the people you talk to yourself. WhatsApp is pseudo security.
Proper ephemeral end-to-end encryption, Google's got nothing on you.
>>52489450
when are we moving to https://wire.com?
>>52489498
You can literally check the packages that go out of your network, anon. Its encrypted.
>that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from
So literally none of them.
>>52489833
>https
>"it's encrypted guys!"
>>52489783
Signal was created by a Jew named Matthew Rosenfeld aka Moxie Marlinspike.
Ugh, free apps is not what I want
what's a paid app on iOS I can move to?
>>52489895
Argumentum ad hominem.
Screw whatsapp
I'm using only telegram right now and imho is much better even without phone calls.
Why people still use whatsapp over telegram?
>>52489709
Slack is the closest thing to that, but propietary and only supports English as language
IRCloud must be the best looking IRC app, but the best is IRC for Android
>>52489898
just pay for something with unlimited SMS or don't live in a shit country, I guess.
>>52489927
Hermes is the best irc app for android
>>52489648
>Telegram
>flawed homebrew crypto
Fuck off shill
>>52489491
It costs money to install on iOS. Doesn't have yearly payments
>>52489450
What is a valid alternative now?
Something good, that isn't full meme?
Is telegram any good, or is it just another botnet?
Just uninstall it and use other chatting app. Literally everything is a botnet, so complaining is useless useless useless.
>>52489918
>Why people still use whatsapp over telegram?
Do you really have to ask this?
It's the same reason Windows is the dominant desktop OS.
It gained a leading foothold, and stayed.
since when has whatsapp charged? I've been using it for free on android for years.
>>52490164
Signal
>>52490164
>Botnet
Instant messaging applications are not botnets. A botnet is a client/server model with malicious intent. Clients get infected, typically without consent of the owner or him being aware thereof, which are called zombies and in turn infect other machines while awaiting commands from the command & control server.
This is fundamentally different from you choosing an instant messaging application, because you *chose* it, and not something else you're infected by. Saying X is botnet is just another meme you fell for here. Id est, you should've fucking known better.
![Autism-Awareness-Ribbon[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/cVfomJR.jpg "Autism-Awareness-Ribbon[1].jpg")
>>52490242
>Instant messaging applications are not botnets. A botnet is a client/server model with malicious intent. Clients get infected, typically without consent of the owner or him being aware thereof, which are called zombies and in turn infect other machines while awaiting commands from the command & control server.
>>52490251
It's not autism, it's called you being this stupid not knowing what it is you're saying.
>>52490251
>A botnet is a client/server model with malicious intent
Thats false
>>52490280
>mom, someone used the wrong terminology on the internet.
>>52490310
It's not. Please don't confuse botnets with grid computing distributed systems.
>facebook nigger slaves
Go suck on your facebook overlords you cucks.
Asocial master race.
>>52489450
>removing barriers for some users
Wouldn't be an issue if the money could be deducted directly from your carrier balance, something that has been done in several other plataforms for several years now.
>like facebook messenger does
Except facebook messenger allows you to use any bogus phone number that you want unlike whatsapp that is required to use the correct one.
Also why are idiots here insisting that on iOS it's paid? I've had the subscription end and wasn't charged on anything.
>>52492449
Cause you don't have to pay ever on android, not even to install it unlike iOS.
>>52489895
Relativity was also created by a jew, does that mean it's false?
>>52492814
Yes
>>52489450
Was at his talk today, he actually seems like a pretty cool guy
Didn't want to talk net neutrality though
>using a botnet
>>52489450
>Still want to be in that botnet, Whatsapp goyim?
I never was, tell that to all Hispanic people. I bet 60% of its users are hispanics
>>52489450
>Will allow businesses to contact you through it
huh. I knew there was a reason it was suddenly "free forever".
AND KEKERBERG FINALLY SHOWS HIS HAND
>Jan Koum
i thought whatsapp was chinese?
>been using WhatsApp since 2010
>never paid a dime
>keep hearing people bitch and moan and sharing shit on FB about WhatsApp charging
Is this a meme? WhatsApp has never asked me for money nor have I given any money to them.
