WhatsApp adds blue checks to confirm message is read, to remain free in India

Few days back, WhatsApp users across the world started witnessing blue tick marks on their messages to indicate that their messages have been read by the recipient. From now on, you can see a single tick when a message has been sent out and double grey ticks to indicate that it has been delivered. When the grey colored ones turn to blue, it shows that the recipient has read the message.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

/ by Abhinaya

Few days back, WhatsApp users across the world started witnessing blue tick marks on their messages to indicate that their messages have been read by the recipient. From now on, you can see a single tick when a message has been sent out and double grey ticks to indicate that it has been delivered. When the grey colored ones turn to blue, it shows that the recipient has read the message.

WhatsApp

In a group chat, the second grey tick marks will appear once all the members in the group receive the message and they will turn blue when all the members have read the message. Also, the Message Info screen will show who has seen the message and when.

It has been made clear that you can see only a single tick mark for a message likely because of several reasons and not due to any issue with WhatsApp. It could be as the recipient’s phone is switched off, if there is a connection issue on the other end, if the recipient has not launched the app and only checked the notification (iPhone users) or if you are blocked.

It is confirmed that WhatsApp has finally introduced the ability to know when your message has been read by recipient. This new feature could be useful for some people, but it could lead to be annoying for some. On one side, it is good to know when a message has been read but on the other side, not everyone will want to know if the recipient has read the message or not.


In addition to rolling out this new feature, the instant messaging service has become completely free of cost for the Indian users. It has been confirmed that WhatsApp will not be charging any fee from the 70 million user base in the country. This means that the service will not be charging the $1 annual subscription fee from the users owing to the low debit and credit card penetration in India that hampers online payments.

Besides this, WhatsApp could have allowed ads on the service, but once this happens, its competitors such as Viber will take an upper arm. Therefore, the only way for the service to monetize is by charging utility fee from its subscribers. However, it had to forego the same in India likewise it does in the other emerging markets.

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edited with by Aman