WhatsApp for five euros a month?
Pay model is getting closer
Created: 06/27/2022, 04:55
By: Vincent Fischer
Changes are coming to WhatsApp users in Germany.
A leak confirms plans for a subscription model.
Competitor Telegram is already presenting.
Mountain View - WhatsApp is the messenger champion in this country.
Just over 80 percent of Germans have downloaded the news service.
WhatsApp has always been free to use.
But far-reaching changes could soon come to the user.
There are increasing indications that the parent company Meta (formerly: Facebook) will set up a subscription model for its messenger app.
WhatsApp: payment model is imminent - competitor introduces premium subscription
There have been rumors about a payment model on WhatsApp for years.
With numerous other online services, users are already used to transferring a fixed amount every month.
Subscription models have become well established, especially in streaming.
Only the messenger services have remained largely free.
But that should change in the future.
WhatsApp users will soon be faced with a new payment model.
© IMAGO/Silas Stein
Telegram has taken the first step.
In the meantime, the messenger service has introduced advertisements in the app.
But the WhatsApp competitor goes even further.
Subscribers can unlock additional features for around five dollars a month.
With “Telegram Premium”, users can, among other things, upload larger files, download them faster and convert voice messages to text.
WhatsApp: Premium version on the way - Leak confirms rumors
Already last year there were indications of a planned premium version of WhatsApp.
A leak from the
Wabetainfo
portal confirmed the rumours.
In the future, there will be a subscription model for business customers that will unlock additional functions.
The manufacturer itself has not yet commented on the rumours.
(By the way, stay up-to-date on consumer information and product recalls with our brand new consumer newsletter.)
But after the Telegram update, things could go quickly now.
Should the meta group expand the planned payment model to private customers as well, it would now have a good reason for doing so.
In addition, WhatsApp is still considered the measure of all things among messengers - no other development is recognizable.
It is therefore unlikely that customers will drop out when a subscription model is introduced.
Even more so if, as with Telegram, the basic functionality remains free.
(vfi)
