iWorld
WhatsApp Pay goes live in India
KOLKATA: In what could be a turnaround for India’s payments market, WhatsApp Pay has gone live today. WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook has been developing the payment feature for a while now, but regulatory hurdles were not easy to overcome.
The WhatsApp payment feature has been designed in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) using the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). To carry out transactions via the messaging app in India, it’s necessary to have a bank account and debit card. WhatsApp sends instructions to banks that initiate the transfer of money via UPI between sender and receiver bank accounts. People can send money on WhatsApp to anyone using a UPI supported app.
The Indian digital payments market is already saturated with homegrown platform Paytm, big players like Google Pay, PhonePe, Amazon Pay, as well as a dozen other start-ups. But an enormous growing user base of 400 million, and a market value projected to reach $1 trillion in the next three years inspires confidence of having more than a fighting chance among new entrants like WhatsApp. Plus, the messaging app already enjoys immense popularity in the country, which also happens to be its largest market.
Starting today, people across India will be able to send money through WhatsApp This secure payments experience makes transferring money just as easy as sending a message. pic.twitter.com/bM1hMEB7sb
— WhatsApp Inc. (@WhatsApp) November 6, 2020
“In the long run, we believe the combination of WhatsApp and UPI’s unique architecture can help local organizations address some of the key challenges of our time, including increasing rural participation in the digital economy and delivering financial services to those who have never had access before,” the company stated in a blog post.
Just like every feature in WhatsApp, payments is designed with a strong set of security and privacy principles, including entering a personal UPI PIN for each payment, the app’s developers added. Payments on WhatsApp is now available for people on the latest version of the iPhone and Android app.
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
