WhatsApp launching pay-to-use tools for businesses

  • The popular app will start charging businesses to communicate with users.

    WhatsApp’s new pay-to-use-tools for businesses will allow companies to communicate with their customers in different ways through the platform and also provide new services such as delivering boarding passes or live chat support.

    Facebook, who acquired WhatsApp for $19bn in 2014, will hope to move will enable it to generate sizeable income from the app which currently has 1.5 billion monthly active users.

    Queries sent from users to businesses will be free for up to 24 hours, but after that will be charged a fee. It is expected that messages for businesses will cost between 0.5 cents to 9 cents (0.3p to 7p.) depending on the user’s country.

    Messages remain end-to-end encrypted and users can block any business with the tap of a button.

    WhatsApp’s business app is already in operation and according to the company users have said “it's quicker and easier to chat with a business than making a call or sending an e-mail”.

    Businesses that are already using the new service include Booking.com and Uber.

    Meanwhile, the app has recently launched a new feature to allow users make group voice and video calls.

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