WhatsApp goes completely Free

Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp messenger service is going to be free, but may come at the cost of outside businesses having more access to users.

Previously, WhatsApp users paid $1 annually after one year of using the messaging app. The company got rid of the $1 fee, but said it would begin to test tools this year to allow outside businesses to message users.

In a blog post, the company said these tools will allow communications with organizations “you want to hear from.”

“That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight. We all get these messages elsewhere today—through text messages and phone calls—so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp, while still giving you an experience without third-party ads and spam,” the company wrote in a blog post.

WhatsApp said the company doesn't have specific outside partners lined up yet, but that more details will come later this year. The company’s plan is to charge these businesses for access to the users, but WhatsApp said it hasn’t launched specific tests yet.

In the blog post, the company said it was taking away the fee because many of its users did not have access to a debit or credit card to pay it. Working with outside businesses was chosen as an alternative to having outside ads on the platform.

WhatsApp said the platform doesn’t collect a lot of information on its users -- for instance, it doesn’t keep messages -- and so it wouldn’t necessarily share that with the third-parties.

The app had 800 million monthly users as of April 2015, according to a Facebook FB, +0.25%  post from company co-founder Jan Koum. It expects to remove the subscription fee in the next few weeks and roll out the third-party tools later this year.

Facebook Messenger, the social network’s instant messaging app, employs a similar model of opening its platform to outside businesses.