{"id":642264,"date":"2026-04-21T09:10:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=642264"},"modified":"2026-04-21T09:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:10:28","slug":"whatsapp-testing-paid-subscription","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/smartphones\/642264-whatsapp-testing-paid-subscription.html","title":{"rendered":"WhatsApp testing paid subscription"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>WhatsApp is selling a new premium subscription that includes more custom features, part of a broader effort by parent company Meta Platforms to build a revenue stream that can complement its core advertising business.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhatsApp is testing a new, optional subscription called WhatsApp Plus, designed for users who want more ways to organise and personalise their experience,\u201d WhatsApp said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re starting with a small test to gather feedback and ensure we\u2019re building something people find genuinely valuable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paying subscribers will get access to some additional WhatsApp features like more pinned chats, custom lists, and new ways to personalise a chat\u2019s look and feel, the company said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>WhatsApp doesn\u2019t plan on charging for private messaging or core features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meta has offered various subscription products over the years,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/creators.facebook.com\/tools\/subscriptions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">including one<\/a>\u00a0for people who want to support content creators. It began\u00a0testing premium subscriptions on Instagram\u00a0last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meta makes the vast majority of its revenue from advertising, but subscriptions are an appealing complement because they offer a predictable revenue stream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other advertising-dependent companies including\u00a0Snap\u00a0and Elon Musk\u2019s X are also selling paid subscriptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paying subscribers will get access to some additional WhatsApp features like more pinned chats, custom lists, and new ways to personalise a chat\u2019s look and feel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":642268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17934],"tags":[73802,8839,73842,90294,2594],"class_list":["post-642264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smartphones","tag-chat-apps","tag-instant-messaging","tag-meta-platforms","tag-subscription-services","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642269,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642264\/revisions\/642269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}