Recently WhatsApp officially announced that it would no longer charge for its services, removing forever the need to make the annual payment of $0.99/€0.89. Although many users have received contradictory notifications within the app, it’s now being applied for all users. By accessing the payment options you can confirm if you now have the permanent license associated with your phone number.
To check if the change has been applied in the usage conditions on your account, go to Settings > Account > Payment information. If in the Service Expiration section it says Lifetime, it has been applied.
What happens if I have gotten notifications from WhatsApp?
It seems many users have received two contradictory messages from the app, with the first informing them that the change has been applied, only to reverse that information later. There’s no need to worry, as the method above can confirm that this is just a passing error.
Minutes after #Whatsapp told me I had lifetime membership, they reneged. #PunkedByWhatsapp pic.twitter.com/bhCbApUB0D
— Stephen Edwards (@SteveEdwardsJA) January 19, 2016
Will I lose my money if I’ve paid a subscription for several years?
At the moment WhatsApp has not commented on this issue. Given that it was possible to pay the subscription for the next five years, it’s quite probable that users will lose this amount. Negligible in any case given how little it was. It seems that one of WhatsApp’s next steps will be to act as the official assistance venue for shops and services, where perhaps you’ll need to pay to use those extra features. But we repeat, there’s still no information in that regard.
More information | WhatsApp Blog
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Hmmmmm