This Monday, WhatsApp's Jan Koum made an announcement that could change everything. The service they offer will now be up for free, dropping the annual subscription fee that they have been charging their users. The move is said to commence in an effort to further the service and remove barriers that some of the consumers face when using the service.

Koum said in a DLD conference in Munich that the charging of the subscription fee really doesn't work well. Though a buck a year doesn't sound to be much, credit cards are not that accessible. They don't want their consumers to think that at some point their communication to the world will just be cut off.

It is known that WhatsApp's charging system starts free for the first year of subscription then a subscription of 99 cents is charged the years following. With the announcement made this Monday, subscription fees will now be stopped.

However, it will probably take a few weeks before the payment infrastructure gets completely eliminated from all versions of the messenger app. Moreover, those who managed to pay a fee for this year will not be able to get a refund.

The announcement naturally was met with sceptism; some started to believe that maybe the service will now be introducing third-party ads as a way to keep running without the subscription fees. But an official blog post by WhatsApp has debunked this.

The post explained that instead of third-party ads, it will start testing tools that will allow its users to communicate with businesses and organisations they want to hear from. This means that consumers can communicate with their banks regarding a recent transaction or with an airline regarding a flight booking.

The post went on to say that people nowadays get messages everywhere through text messages or phone calls, so the messaging app wants to test new tools that will make this easier to do on WhatsApp while still giving its users the experience they need without the annoyance of having third-party ads or spams.

This strategy is the same as what's being employed on Facebook Messenger now. Facebook is currently the owner of WhatsApp after having bought the service in 2014. On Messenger, the social media offers its consumers the chance to chat with businesses, and it has been creating features like payments and/or the ability to hail a ride through Uber.

Koum further said that businesses are already using WhatsApp to reach their customers, but the messaging app company can make it easier. The company wants to try out several other approaches. But as of now, the company hasn't added or modified any of its service codes yet.