WhatsApp: Popular Mobile Messaging App goes Free for iOS users to send Holiday Greetings

WhatsApp, one of the most popular mobile messaging services in the world, has dished out its Christmas gift for iOS users. The company has announced on its Twitter account that the service would be free for iOS users for a limited time as part of the holiday season.

WhatsApp is free for Android and comes with only a yearly subscription plan. However, iOS users had to make a one-time payment of $0.99 (approx Rs. 55) to avail the service.

WhatsApp has not specified how much the 'limited time' is going to be. Most probably, the app would be free for iOS users until Christmas and the service would return to being charged after that.

There are very few smartphone users, including iOS users, who do not have WhatsApp. For those not availing the service yet, this is the best opportunity for it. WhatsApp for iOS can be downloaded from here.

The popular messaging app had returned to devices running on Windows Phone 8 after a period of prominent absence. Even though the app is now available for Windows Phone 8 devices, several features offered by the app in Windows Phone 7 devices are glaringly absent.

One of the major and noticeable omissions in the app for Windows Phone 8 is the pack of emoticons. WhatsApp had been extremely famous for the range of emoticons it offered. The app also seems to be facing difficulty in fast resuming from live tiles and other features contained in apps of Windows Phone 8.

WhatsApp had claimed early this month that the upcoming version of the app would be faster almost by six times and would be featuring an improved set of emoticons. It looks as if WhatsApp still has to deliver on these accounts.