I've used WhatsApp for years and have never been charged a dime.

I'm not sure what to tell you, I'm not fabricating the fact there was very much a yearly subscription fee associated with the app (and prior to that a price to just download the app). I'm aware it didn't apply universally which is why I specifically said it varied depending on platform.

https://www.imore.com/whatsapp-moves-yearly-subscription-pay...

Well, you claimed in the post I responded to a monthly subscription, not an annual one. What's a factor of twelve between friends?

My understanding is that the annual fee was essentially nonexistent, honored far more on the breach than in the observance, though all I know for sure is that they never charged me.

Or one might have not even noticed it. Just a click somewhere in a dialog, end of story. Among 10,000 other events we go through everyday...

Not sure why I typed /month, it was always a yearly fee or a flat fee to buy the app. Can't edit it at this point.

I have an iTunes receipt from 2013 for 69p paid for a year's worth of Whatsapp service. Their message then was "we charge because we don't want to show you ads".

IIRC they were always free in emerging markets like India though.

It varied by country. Some places it was $1 for the app. Other places, $1/year. Other places, free entirely. My guess is their goal was to make enough money to keep in the black, but to otherwise not worry too much about revenue. That let them maximize growth while avoiding the headaches and dilution of raising money.

it doesn't rule out the fact that there was an annual subscription fee at some point in time.

https://blog.whatsapp.com/615/Making-WhatsApp-free-and-more-...