Here is why WhatsApp goes free

In what may be seen as a good news for all the WhatsApp users, the Facebook owned messaging app has announced to drop its annual subscription fee.

The messaging app which has a user base of 900 million users worldwide for mobile devices can also be used to make voice calls over a phone’s Internet connection.

The decision to ditch its $0.99 annual fee from different versions was announced by WhatsApp chief executive Jan Koum  at the DLD (Digital-Life-Design) conference in Bavaria.

WhatsApp users get their first year of service free of cost and after that they get charged a fee. According to the company, this approach hasn’t worked well as expected. Some users had their free-use period extended several times in the last few years and have never had to pay for the service.

In what seemed to be strong assurance, the company also promised the users that it will not start rolling out third-party advertisements to make up for the loss in subscription fees.

Instead, it will look into partnering with companies, to open communication channels with its user base. This can be seen as a major step when it comes to WhatsApp's growth plan, especially as its user base continues to surge.