Enormously popular WhatsApp goes free: gains iCloud chat backups and other features

WhatsApp, arguably the most popular cross-platform chatting solution, has just gone free on the App Store. We’re not sure whether the move is part of the upcoming iOS subscription switch or if there was a change of heart.

Either way, we’re not complaining. Previously a 99-cent download, WhatsApp for the iPhone and iPod touch is now provided free of charge (jump past the fold for the fine print).

In addition, the app’s been updated with the much-needed ability to back up your chats to iCloud so you don’t loose your chat history upon reinstalling WhatsApp. Other changes in WhatsApp 2.10.1 include support for URL schemes and the ability to send multiple photos at the same time…

URL scheme is a useful feature that allows WhatsApp to integrate more tightly with other third-party apps, provided you’re familiar with URL schemes in the first place.

When the App Store in May hit the 50 billionth download, Apple said WhatsApp was the sixth most popular paid iPhone app of all time, despite costing 99 cents a pop.

WhatsApp promised to detail its upcoming subscription model for new users by year’s and and if iTunes release notes are an indication, the app will be free for the first year and then cost $0.99 per year.

As for iCloud support, to manually back up your chats navigate to WhatsApp Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup and hit the Back Up Now button. And if you want to enable the automatic backup feature, just set the Auto Backup frequency to Daily, Weekly or Monthly.

iCloud backups include media files received and sent in chats, except for videos. A word of warning:  you’d be wise to limit Auto Backup to Wi-Fi only in order to avoid unwanted cellular data usage.

This has to be done outside the app so navigate to your iOS Settings > iCloud > Documents & Data and set Use Cellular Data to OFF (to disable cellular iCloud data for all apps that support it) or set just the WhatsApp entry to OFF.

So what are you waiting for?

Go grab your free copy of WhatsApp from the App Store Inc.now.

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Google ostensibly close to buying WhatsApp for $1 billion

WhatsApp, the cross-platform instant messaging application for smartphones, is rumored to be close to negotiating a landmark acquisition deal with Google. Sources reportedly close to the negotiations claim the Internet giant is considering dropping a whopping one billion dollars on the popular service that as of March 2013 had a cool 200 million users, a hundred million ones on Android alone.

The report ties nicely with talk of a new instant messaging brand from Google called Babble, and even more so given Facebook with its new Home UI layer for select Android devices is basically encouraging its one billion users to use its Messenger service right from their Lock screen or from whichever app they happen to be using at any give moment…

DigitalTrends reports that while the deal started four or five weeks ago, “we’ve been told that WhatsApp is ‘playing hardball’ and jockeying for a higher acquisition price, which currently is ‘close to’ $1 billion right now.”

The acquisition might make sense for both parties.

For WhatsApp, Google’s scale and reach would mean rapid adoption, especially on Android devices. More importantly, the software would probably gain video chatting, a feature it’s been conspicuously missing.

WhatsApp’s 200 million users come from more than a hundred countries and across an astounding 750 mobile networks.The number one paid app in more than a hundred countries, WhatsApp on New Years Eve 2012 alone saw a record eighteen billion messages processed in a day.

DigitalTrends lets us in on WhatsApp’s business model, said to pull in about $100 million in revenue:

WhatsApp has a proven monetization scheme. Its yearly but nominal $0.99 subscription fee keeps the service ad-free. Behind the scenes however, WhatsApp also generates revenue through profitable partnerships with international telecommunications companies.

For instance WhatsApp’s monthly local plan in Hong Kong with mobile operator 3 HK costs just $8HK ($1.03 USD) and an international package will run for $48HK ($6.18 USD) per day. And whatever Whatsapp is doing is working: The app has even had a direct hand in declining SMS usage around the world. 

It’s interesting that although Google played its cards well with Android, it somehow has managed to drop the ball when it comes to the mobile instant messaging playground.

The company is now rumored to be consolidating its many instant messaging offerings under the new Babble brand so it could certainly use a standout app such as WhatsApp to drive people away from rival offerings and give them another reason to go Android.

The search giant’s Nikhyl Singhal told GigaOM last June that “we have done an incredibly poor job of servicing our users here.”

WhatsApp is thought to be toying with a subscription model on iOS and has suffered its share or privacy-related hiccups. Google previously acquired some other popular developers who made names for themselves creating popular apps for Apple’s iPhone, iPod, iPad and Mac.

Most notably, it boughtemail client Sparrow last Jul and mobile productivity suite QuickOffice in June 2012. Last September, the company unexpectedly acquired Nik Software, the maker of the popular photo editing software Snapseed.

Viber, another popular IM app, has for some time been in a neck and neck race with WhatsApp over which service gets to become the default cross-platform messaging solution on mobile devices.

But taking advantage of Viber’s feature shortages and slow pace of development, WhatsApp zoomed past its rival, which as of February 26, 2013 had 175 million users.

Which one do you prefer for cross-platform messaging, Viber or WhatsApp?

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