Payment service coming soon to your WhatsApp
WhatsApp is adding a payment service to its popular instant messaging app. The new feature is likely to come to Africa soon. It will be adding to the pool of payment services available already to smartphone users on the continent. But it is definitely going to raise the competition.
A recent report claims that WhatsApp has submitted a beta version of its next app upgrade to Google Play Beta Program™.
It is a great thing that the upgrade has a hidden preview of WhatsApp Payments. The preview comes with a prominent headline which reads:
‘Immediate bank to bank transfer with UPI’
The acronym UPI stands for Unified Payment Interface. It is a service that was launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and has been regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.
The integration of UPI in this new upgrade may mean that WhatsApp Payments will launch first in India. Although, officially, WhatsApp has refused to comment on this, but the company said:
‘India is an important country for WhatsApp, and we’re understanding how we can contribute more to the vision of Digital India. We’re exploring how we might work with companies that share this vision and continuing to listen closely to feedback from our users.’
After reaching its one-billion daily user target recently, the company promised to bring more useful features to its instant messaging app in future upgrades.
Other features: Expect more than a payment service
The company is already testing some other features that it plans to release in the next updgrade. These features include: an ability to ‘unsend’ messages, typewriter font, bold, italic, and strikethrough. The upgrade will also make it possible to share files automatically from iCloud and Google Drive.
Reviewers say that, the ‘unsend’ message feature would allow users to recall messages sent within five minutes.
This new ability to ‘unsend’ messages will help users of the app to avoid embarassments that may arise over mistakenly sent messages.
The whole upgrade is likely to rollout first in Nigeria, when the new features launch in Africa.
You can download WhatsApp on any Android smartphone via Google Play Store.
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