based on the populace and demographic that use WhatsApp the most this will 100% not fly. And if they do roll this out some dude in India will have it circumvented within hours by clicking on random things in the phones settings menu (I’ve watched those factory lock bypass videos…friggin nuts)
Something tells me one of the features WhatsApp Plus won’t offer is a “stop stealing all my data” switch.
Interestingly WhatsApp used to be an exclusively premium service, I remember buying three years of it in around 2011
When I got my first phone (an early android) I remember they used to give 1 year service for free. But at the end of the year they would give another year for free (not explicitly but they didn’t stop service)
I used to pay once or twice anyway since it was less than one 1 USD at that time. (Long before facebook purchased it)
I also remember agonising over paying a quid and feeling like a jammy bastard as the service continued after I didn’t cough up
WhatsApp hasn’t removed any core features and added them to the paid plan - all of the Plus features are new.
Yet. We all know where this train is headed.
