年費不再收，WhatsApp 這個 Instant Messaging 終究回歸到免費機制。
WhatsApp 創辦人 Jan Koum 在 18 日宣佈，公司將會把服務年費移除，避免用戶遇到使用上的障礙。
目前，WhatsApp 年費為 0.99 美元。
不過，若今年已經支付這個費用，WhatsApp 將不會退款給使用者。
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.
Jan Koum 在 Munich 的 DLD conference 上提到，WhatsApp 每年 0.99 美元的費用並不多，但信用卡並沒有想像中普及，而 WhatsApp 不希望人們在這樣的情況下與外界通訊中斷。
雖然年費被取消，但 WhatsApp 將通過其他服務來獲得營收，這主要是為了避免垃圾郵件以及不必要的廣告。