Why There's Simply No Need For A WhatsApp Plus Subscription

WhatsApp Plus is beginning to roll out for some iOS users in certain regions, following an Android beta that launched in April. Often, when a service adds a premium tier, previously free things, like hidden WhatsApp features everyone should use, may get locked behind a paywall. With over 3 billion monthly users, the messaging platform is among the most widely used for communications, especially outside of the United States, so those concerns are more than fair.

Fortunately, you really don't need to get WhatsApp Plus. Even WhatsApp itself would tell you that, as its Help Center page refers to the subscription as "optional". Its premium features are mostly cosmetic, while all of the important functions of WhatsApp, like calling and messaging, remain available to all users.

So far, WhatsApp Plus seems to only be available in Europe and costs €2.49, suggesting a price of around $2.99. While the rollout has started small so the company can get user feedback, it's expected to expand to more accounts in the coming weeks. WhatsApp Plus will likely add new features once it's widely available, but so far, there's nothing that would really make WhatsApp Plus worth the money.

WhatsApp Plus is launching with five features:

• Themes and app icons
• Up to 20 pinned chats (up from three )
• Premium ringtones you can set to specific contacts
• Chat list customization (alerts, ringtones, themes)
• Premium stickers with special effects

Of the five, four are strictly cosmetic. These extra personalization options are probably fun to mess around with, but things like ringtones and stickers don't actually improve the service in any meaningful way. The only feature that actually impacts the app's functionality is the increase in pinned chats, which is nice since three is pretty low, especially for anyone using WhatsApp as their primary form of communication.

That alone, though, is probably not enough to justify adding another subscription service to your monthly expenses. While it isn't expensive, it's also not particularly compelling. That's good from a consumer standpoint, but it does make the service and its rollout kind of a nothingburger.

This isn't the first time WhatsApp has introduced a subscription. From 2013 through 2016, WhatsApp was only free to use for the first year, charging $0.99/year after that. While it's obviously not a massive fee, it impacted WhatsApp's ability to expand and maintain users in the developing world, especially in places where even those with money lacked access to credit or debit cards. Removing that certainly helped the service expand to what it is today, though there are plenty of other great messaging apps for Android and iOS to check out if you're unhappy with WhatsApp.